Harry James Potter and the Power of a Prodigy
by StarLight Massacre
Summary: What would life be like if Harry was a prodigy? If his family was still alive, but think that Harry is dead? Will Harry accept his family if or when he goes to Hogwarts? Will he accept his destiny as the chosen one or will he shun it? Full summary insid
1. Prologue

_Harry James Potter and the Power of a Prodigy _

_Summary: What would life be like if Harry was a prodigy? If his family was still alive, but think that Harry is dead? Will Harry accept his family if or when he goes to Hogwarts? Will he accept his destiny as the chosen one? Follow Harry through his years at Hogwarts with his family and friends, see what mischief he gets up to and how he attempts to defeat the darkness and abuse that is always following him._

_Rating: K (for strong language and abusive nature. Rating may go up to M in later chapters.)_

_Pairing: None as of yet, but obviously JP/LP_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, I just manipulate JK's characters to do as I want them too._

_Prologue_

_James Potter was incredibly happy, he had a beautiful, loving wife, incredible friends and his pride and joy, his one year old baby son, Harry._

_He looked around his front sitting room in utter joy, his wife Lily was sitting next to him, practically on his lap, not that he was complaining about that, and they were watching their two great friends, Remus 'Moony' Lupin and Sirius 'Padfoot' Black, entertain their baby boy, who was on his back, between Sirius' arms, who was kneeling over him. _

"_Hello Harry, hello." Sirius gurgled in his best old lady cooing imitation._

_Harry gurgled right back and giggled attempting to grab a hold of Sirius' long, silky hair._

"_Ah ah ah Harry, what have I taught you? Don't touch the hair." he told the boy in a mock scolding tone wagging his finger._

_Harry just gurgled some more before rolling on his stomach and crawling towards Remus._

"_Nooo! Harry! How could you leave me for him?!" Sirius wailed._

_Everyone laughed and Remus picked up the cute baby boy._

"_Heya there cub. How are you?" he asked the giggling baby._

_Ever since Harry was born Remus had a very strong bond with him, as the child of one of his pack members, Harry got the honorary title of being the first cub born in to Remus' pack, the others knew that as a werewolf Remus was obliged to love every member of his pack unless they did something to jeopardize that obligation. That is why they knew Remus was not the spy, he could never turn his back on his pack, even if he was forced to he would keep them safe no matter what, and they knew he would protect Harry until he died, just like Sirius had sworn to do as well._

_That is why the family now gathered around were so close because they would each support and protect the other members of the close knit family, and they all had one priority, protect Harry at all costs._

_When Albus Dumbledore had came and told them that Harry was the fabled prophecy child, they were horrified, they really did not want to believe it, their adorable baby, risking his life to save the world from Voldemort? Putting his life on the line for everyone else? Unbelievable! Preposterous! Absolutely no way in hell! But alas it was true, so now Voldemort was hunting down their baby, their precious one year old son. They had since moved in to a small village and cast a fidilius charm upon the house in Godric's Hollow, their secret keeper was once Sirius, now Peter Pettigrew, another great friend of theirs._

_There was an important Order of the Phoenix meeting scheduled for tonight, and James and Lily were, for the first time, leaving baby Harry with a babysitter, as they weren't allowed to bring him to such horrendous meetings, where they talked of death and murder._

_The babysitter was a very old friend of Lily's who had agreed to watch over little Harry. With the fidilius charm in place Voldemort wouldn't be allowed to get in to the house anyway, and they trusted Peter to keep their baby safe._

_When the time came to leave and the babysitter was comfortable and Harry in bed asleep, the foursome took off to the meeting._

_They arrived just as the meeting was starting and instead of seeing Peter in the meeting room ready to greet them, there was no sign of him, Sirius growled at one Severus Snape as he passed him, but otherwise didn't seem to notice Peter wasn't there._

_As the meeting lengthened and Peter still hadn't shown up, things started to click in their heads, things that horrified and alarmed them._

"_Is there something wrong Lily? James?" Albus Dumbledore asked them._

"_Where is Peter?"_

"_I do not know, why? Is there a problem?"_

_James looked at Lily, then his two friends._

"_Sir, me and Lily changed our secret keeper to Peter a few days ago."_

_Silence, stretched and stunned silence._

"_Oh good god, what have I done?!" James raged before he stood up and practically ran out of the meeting room, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Albus close on his tail._

_The foursome and the most intermediate of the Order apparated to Godric's Hollow, many of them wouldn't be able to get in the house but they could at least see it._

_When they arrived at Godric's Hollow it was in absolute ruins, the front door was missing, there was black smoke rising in to the night sky and one of the walls had been completely blown away, this wall was none other than Harry James Potter's nursery wall. His crib lay blood stained and empty on its side, the room could be seen perfectly from where they were standing._

_The body of the babysitter was lying not too far away from the group, very much dead._

_Lily sank to the floor looking horrified, she clutched a stuffed stag that was at her feet and she cried. James sank down next to her and clutched her to him. No one else dared to move as the horror of what had happened hit them._

_It was Albus who stepped forward first, he went into the house and they could see him appear in the nursery, he looked high and low and in every corner. He stopped on the far side of the crib and bent down to examine something. He then came back down and out. _

"_It seems that our young mister Potter has defeated Lord Voldemort." he said._

_Silence once more._

"_What do you mean?" growled Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody._

"_Voldemort's body is in Harry's nursery, he is gone."_

_Nearly everyone cheered and apparated away to pass on the news and celebrate. Severus Snape, who had followed, cast a look at his sobbing, once best friend's, face and apparated away._

"_I am sorry to hear of Harry's passing away." Albus stated solemnly._

"_He isn't dead." Lily said forcibly. "There isn't a body! No one can prove he's dead!"_

"_Lily love please, don't make it harder on yourself, there may not be evidence that he's dead but there isn't evidence that he's alive either, where could he have gone? There may not be a body, but do you really think Voldemort would of left one?"_

_Lily sobbed harder at this and buried her head in James' robes._

"_Come, you shall be staying at Hogwarts." Albus told the foursome in front of him. "The ministry representatives will be here shortly to clean up and see if they can find Harry."_

_Sirius seemed to be working on automatic as he picked up James under the arms and supported his distressed friend to Hogwarts, Remus doing the same for Lily as she cried harder than ever over the loss of her precious, baby son._

_But unknown to them, Harry James Potter was alive, bleeding from a deep gash on his forehead and lying, approximately five miles south of the village of Godric's Hollow, in a forest clearing, after the attack he had had his first bout of accidental magic and had apparated himself away from danger, but also away from the safety of his family's arms._

_An old woman had found him and had kept him alive, in her forest cottage for three short years, then she abandoned Harry on the streets a few miles away, once she had gotten bored of looking after him._

_--_

_Ten years later_

_James and Lily Potter walked in to the headmaster of Hogwarts' office, they were followed by their two best friends, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. The four had been living at Hogwarts ever since that fateful day ten years ago when they had lost their first and only baby, for Harry was always seen as a baby to Sirius who was his Godfather and to Remus who was an Uncle in all but blood. _

_Lily and James had been called to the office for an emergency revelation by Albus, who although didn't invite Remus and Sirius, seemed to expect them to come anyway, as his eyes twinkled when he saw them._

"_You wished to see us Albus?" James stated, his happy face façade, ruined slightly by his haunted and sad looking eyes._

"_I have made a startling discovery that I thought I should tell you about." replied the aged headmaster._

"_You found Harry?!" was the predictable shout from Lily._

_James and Sirius shook their heads sadly, even now after ten years she hadn't given up hope of finding her boy. She asked this question every time someone said they had made a discovery or had found something worth while. Harry's body had never been found and that was all the incentive she needed to start on her campaign that Harry really was alive, just lost. They didn't know how right she was._

"_Lily love, please don't." James replied painfully._

"_Actually James, Lily's right, I have found Harry. He is very much alive." _

_Stunned silence followed this statement, then hope and finally incredible happiness._

"_Where? Where is he? Where is my boy?!" James demanded._

"_I don't know."_

_Everyone's faces fell, if it wasn't such a serious matter they probably would of laughed at each others comical faces._

"_What? But…" James stuttered at the aged headmaster._

"_I have found Harry, but I do not know where he is, you see he is on the Hogwarts waiting list, I shall send him a letter and see if he replies back, if he comes to Hogwarts then you will, without a doubt, be reunited with him again."_

"_I…I…He's really alive?" asked James tentatively._

"_Yes I assure you that if Harry really had died all those years ago, his name would have been removed from the list, also I feel bound to tell you that nothing can fool the list, not Polyjuice potion, glamour charms or false names."_

"_Oh my god, my baby's out there all alone!" Lily yelled. _

"_Lily please calm down, I have already sent the letter to him and he should be receiving it first thing in the morning. I have asked him to come immediately to Hogwarts via port key, if he wishes to come the port key will activate."_

_--_

_Meanwhile 400 miles away in an abandoned house, ten year old Harry James Potter, was sitting on the windowsill, of an upstairs bedroom, reading a magic book. He was incredibly intelligent for his age and had been practising wandless magic for the five years in which he had been able to read. He had had to teach himself everything, reading, writing, cooking and cleaning, although the latter two came easier now that he knew magic. _

_He had been abandoned on the streets by his so called 'carer' and then had proceeded to being chased mercilessly by a gang of older teenagers with knives when he had wished him self far away from them, somewhere safe, he had wished so hard that he had just vanished and reappeared in this dilapidated house, what's more is that he had been in this house before! As he had walked around here a mere boy of four, the flashbacks came thick and fast, some made him happy, others made him incredibly scared and sad. He saw his parents for the first time, he saw his 'Uncles' Padfoot and Moony. But he also saw him, the traitor Wormtail, Harry had always held a very personal grudge with the man, even when he was too small to understand why, he never let him hold him or play with him, not without a fight and Harry mostly ignored him if he talked to him._

_He had also found a few toys that had sparked flashbacks of good memories he had of playing with his parents or his Uncles, but what he mostly treasured were the photos. Two whole albums filled with pictures of him and his parents right back to when they were babies themselves. It also held pictures of his Uncles and a few other people he didn't recognize._

_After staying here for a few weeks he had found out that the food in the fridge seemed to reappear after he had closed the door. He wasn't complaining about this as he had no money and no wish to steal. He had also found the library, it was here that he spent most of his time, he started out on the baby books that were on one shelf, and taught himself to read by spelling out the words out loud. He then went on to slightly more complex books and after he got the basics of reading he came across a dictionary that he still read to this day. It had been his source for everything he knew, all the words he knew, it was the reason for his almost perfect pronunciation and grammar. Although he didn't know it he knew more words and complex sentence structures than most of the adults in the world. When he was five he had stumbled upon his first magic book and was so enthralled by it he never went back to his story books, he went straight on to magic, and after reading a lengthy introduction for beginners he had cast his first spell, the levitation charm. He had been so excited and surprised he had broken the connection and dropped the book he was levitating with his finger. He had progressed from there on to the spells he had needed to learn, like quick cooking and cleaning spells, after all he couldn't go on eating bread and fruit and living in a filthy house for the rest of his life. He had found the spells he needed and cleaned all the dust and, god forbid, blood from the house leaving it spotless. He had also found a basic and a more complex repairing charm and had used them to fix the doors, windows, vases and picture frames that were broken, he had then used the more complex spell on the wall to his nursery, he had always felt unsafe living in a house with no front door and no left side wall._

_He hadn't counted on the magic making him so tired though, and the advanced repairing charm had taken so much out of him he had collapsed and fell straight to sleep then and there on the floor._

_Now he was ten years old, almost eleven in fact, if the captions on the pictures of his birth were correct, which he had no doubt that they were. _

_He had rapidly progressed at casting his magic, he had gone straight through the library and found that nearly all of the books in it was based on magic. He had found old tattered books on spells and charms, journals and documents on potions and even a few books that looked pristine, despite how old they were, on ancient magic and blood magic. He was ecstatic when he found his first potions book, the other books he had read named a few potions in them, but never told you how to make them. Harry had set straight to work using a conjuring spell he had learned to get a cauldron and then searching high and low for potions ingredients, he found them in the attic of all places. He had set to work on making his first potion at the age of six and had quickly found out that it was incredibly difficult but that hadn't stopped him at all, in fact it had spurned him to try harder and harder at it and all he had done was merely found out where he went wrong by reading the journals and scriptures and try again. Only then did he realise that potion making was, to put it bluntly, an art, that needed precise measurements, steady hands and a lot of concentration. _

_He studied and studied, it wasn't like he had anything better to do, and by the time he was nine he had completed almost the entire Hogwarts curriculum (not that he knew that he had, he had just read and practised all the spells, and what not, that were in the library.) and then some. He was a perfect potion brewer, after learning from his mistakes he had trained himself to pour out exact measurements and to steady his hands to cut finely and perfectly. He had learnt many spells, charms and even hexes, jinxes and curses. He didn't too much like the curses but he had learnt everything else and he decided that he might as well learn them, you never knew when they would come in handy, especially in the future and especially if he needed to get away from anymore gangs. He was now reading a book on very advanced dark magic, it was frowned upon in society, but to be honest he had read absolutely everything else. He was currently sitting in his favourite spot for reading, he had sat almost everywhere in the house, in chairs, on beds, on sofas and even a table or two, before he sat on this windowsill, and he found himself sitting here for most of the day, every day, either reading or, when thinking deeply, looking out on to the horizon. He had come to a particular passage of curses and he knew immediately that he would never try any of them, unless he was in a dire situation, they were called the Unforgivables and any use of them upon a fellow human being was enough to land you a life time ticket to Azkaban, and Harry, after reading about Azkaban, had no wish to ever go there. He did however study the theory of them, and as the sun rose on the horizon Harry had no idea that this day would completely turn him upside down and change his life forever._

_--_

_Hey, this is my new fanfic, hope you all enjoyed it, let me know if you did or didn't, constructive criticism is very welcome, flames however aren't. Chapter one shall be up soon after this, please enjoy. StarLight Massacre. x_


	2. The Letter from Hogwarts and a Trip to

Chapter One - The Letter from Hogwarts and A Trip to Diagon Ally

Harry was always up just before the crack of dawn, he showered and then he always ate a heavy breakfast, he then grabbed a book and sat reading until lunch time, after a light lunch he would do physical exercise, after all he didn't want to get fat now did he. He did this until dinner time, (when he was younger he stopped when he got tired, but he never seemed to get tired anymore.) After a large dinner (he was a growing boy after all) he went back to his studies. Some of the main things he studied apart from magic, was literature, history, maths, chemistry, animal recognition, biology, astrology, as of recently healing and he had even read a few books on psychology, learning about the human mind as well as human behaviour along with animal behaviour.

Harry had also found a local library when he was seven and had been checking out, as many books as possible, from there every two weeks, the librarian and her helpers were stunned by the sheer amount of books the handsome, young boy checked out.

After studying for a few more hours, Harry would take a bath or shower and then climb in to his parents old bed and fall straight to sleep normally around nine or ten, only to wake up throughout the night due to horrific nightmares that left him screaming, sweating and crying, but despite this he always woke up at five-thirty to start his daily routine all over again.

Harry didn't let anything interrupt his daily routine, the only times he changed it were to stop himself from getting too bored, or if he needed to make a trip to the library. He also rotated his physical education, which included running, jumping, hand-eye coordination tests, martial arts he taught himself from books, assault courses he built using furniture and conjured items, and as of two years ago sword play. He had found a couple of swords, that were used mainly for decoration, hanging on the walls. He thought back to the large knives the boys chasing him had had, and resolved that his physical training would include learning to use a sword. He had gone out to the library and found as many books on swords and fencing as he could carry. The librarian who knew him by name and face, smiled at him as he handed the books over the counter to be checked out. The woman had then politely asked if it was a new project to which he had replied affirmatively.

It had taken him weeks of hard study to learn all of the moves and stances, but he got there in the end, and he started using the actual sword. He was actually pretty good at it, he had had a few close shaves though, either due to his inattentiveness, fatigue, clumsiness or progressing to a higher level than what he was capable of handling at that time.

It was now as he sat on the windowsill, reading a chapter on how to heal wounds dealt by the dark arts, that he got a funny feeling of elation. He thought it incredibly strange, but pushed it aside. To Harry this was just another day that he was going to fill with study and sword play, but unfortunately for him his plans were going to be interrupted with a deal that he would not be able to refuse.

Harry had already eaten his huge breakfast and he felt contented as he always did. A few hours passed and he looked up from his book to focus his eyes on the horizon, when he spotted a big brown barn owl carrying a thick letter. From his studies Harry knew that this was how wizards and witches communicated with each other. Harry's contented feeling rapidly turned to confusion. There wasn't another witch or wizard around was there? Harry kept his bright, green eyes glued to the owl and was surprised to see it coming closer and closer to Godric's Hollow. He was even more surprised when it landed on the windowsill on the outside of the window. Harry just looked at it for a few seconds before pulling the window open and taking the letter off of the owls outstretched leg.

Harry looked at the letter and found that it was addressed to him, he flipped it over and saw a wax seal that was incredibly familiar to him, he had seen it on coats of arms, in books, on letters and, more importantly, on the uniforms that his parents and his Uncles wore in some of their pictures.

His heart went straight up in to his throat, he was being accepted into Hogwarts! He couldn't believe it. He broke the seal and opened the letter with shaking fingers.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First class, Grand Sorc. Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1st September. We await your owl by no later that 31st July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Harry was stunned, he just stared at the letter for a few seconds before he pulled out the book list and read that as well.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZADRY

Uniform

First years will require:

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags

Set Books

All students should have a copy of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

Harry blanched at the book list, he had read and learnt these books off by heart, he could recall every spell, potion and everything else from these books. He could create all the potions and cast all the spells, blindfolded for gods sake! He was horrified to say the least, he had learnt these books years ago! What were they playing at? Were they deliberately giving him an easier year than the others because they thought he was stupid? That because he hadn't grown up with an adult he wasn't able to do the simplest of spells? He would have to ask them when he saw them. He moved on to read the last part of the letter.

Other Equipment

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat Or a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

Harry smiled at the last comment, he had read all about Quidditch and hoped to be able to play when he went to Hogwarts.

'_Looks like I have to make a trip to Diagon Ally'_ Harry thought to himself.

Harry sighed, he had no money to speak of, no one to show him around, he wondered where his parents were, were they still alive? If they were did they miss him? Did they even remember he was still alive or had they replaced him with another baby? He grew angry and sad at the same time. He snatched his book list and concentrated very hard on Diagon Ally, he had read somewhere that there was a pub guarding the entrance, called The Leaky Cauldron. He 'popped' away and arrived at his destination, an ally way directly across from The Leaky Cauldron. He held his head high, his jet black, incredibly, messy hair, sticking up all over the place, his luminescent, green eyes sticking out prominently on his deathly pale face.

He knew his eyes would draw attention they always did, he was far too pale because he hardly ever saw daylight, some people would even call him sickly looking, but he was healthy enough. He had learnt a basic diagnostic spell from one of the healer books he had found, and had checked himself out, there was nothing wrong with him medically, except, perhaps, he was still very small and skinny and looked like a half starved baby gerbil despite his very large meals, he guessed it was either hereditary or he worked too much to gain a substantial amount of weight. He thought it was the latter as he had seen pictures of both his mother and father and they didn't look anything like half starved baby gerbils. The librarian and her friends and helpers had remarked upon how 'cute' and 'handsome' he was, one had even said he would grow up to be a heartbreaker. He just thought they were being kind, so didn't pay much attention to them.

He crossed the road carefully looking both ways to make sure he didn't get knocked over and entered the pub, personally he thought it was a terrible idea to have a pub over the only entrance into Diagon Ally, it encouraged drinking and let small children see drunkards and be exposed to vulgar and vile language, and sure enough as he entered the pub the smell of alcohol and smoke from an assortment of pipes and cigarettes assaulted his nostrils and a chorus of swear words invaded his ears, he glared at the perpetrators and looked around him, looking for the exit so he could get out of there, he didn't notice that nearly everyone was now looking at him with wide eyes and whispering and pointing. He spotted the door and before anyone could stop him he marched up to it and yanked it open. He remembered from a book that he had to tap the third brick up and the second one across from the point directly above the rusted dustbin, he did so with the point of his finger, the brink he touched quivered and then a hole appeared, it grew bigger and bigger, until it made an elegant archway, Harry's eyes were now very wide. He looked everywhere and then spotted the gigantic white building at the far end of the high street, he knew this to be Gringotts, the wizarding bank, run by very proud and ancient creatures known as goblins.

Harry walked here first, he was bowed into the building and Harry, much to the goblins surprise, bowed back to him. Harry took delight in reading the warnings on the door and walked through to the main entrance bowing to every goblin he passed, much to their surprise and delight.

He walked up to the head goblin and patiently waited for him to finish writing, unlike the man next to him who decided to shout and rave until the proud creature looked at him in fury.

Harry waited patiently for fifteen minutes running through a mental list of things he had to buy and where from and calculated how much he roughly needed, plus some for spending money.

"Ah, Mister Potter, how may I help you?" a smooth voice asked.

Harry looked back at the Goblin and bowed low, he looked back at the surprised looking goblin.

"I wish to borrow some money from your bank, in order to buy school supplies sir." Harry replied respectfully.

"There will be no need for that Mr Potter, you have your own vault and your key was placed in the hands of our goblins, please follow me." the goblin answered after he had gotten over his shock at being treated so respectfully.

It was Harry's turn to be surprised now, he had his own vault here? But how?

Harry hurried to catch up to the goblin, who was only half a head shorter than he was. It was true what they said, Harry looked like he was still six years old, with his short and thin frame and his baby soft skin, his cute boyish face and his dimpled hands and cheeks. It was no wonder people still cooed over him. That was until he opened his mouth and talked like an incredibly intelligent and well informed adult, more like a wise old man really.

Harry got in to the famous Gringotts cart and watched in amazement at the caves and tunnels that surrounded him, going at break neck speed. They arrived at Harry's vault in next to no time, and the goblin took out a small golden key. He placed it in one of the hundreds of locks on the outside of the vault and turned it, a series of metallic clicks followed and the door swung open to reveal a very large fortune inside, Harry felt his mouth drop, he had never seen so much money (which wasn't saying much as he had never had any money at all, living with the bare necessities.)

He looked at the goblin who nodded with a smirk on his face, as though he knew exactly what Harry was going through.

Harry had calculated roughly how much he needed and he placed it in to a small leather pouch he had found in Godric's Hollow, he then placed just a bit more gold in to the pouch than he actually needed, he had seen an ice cream parlour on his way here and he had never tasted one before, plus he needed to buy an animal and he had no idea how much his chosen animal would cost and of course he decided he might as well find a few more books to read whilst he was here, he wanted to learn new spells and read up on wizarding laws.

He stood back up and looked at the surprised goblin again and nodded his head to indicate he was finished, he had no idea why the goblins always looked so surprised when he showed them the respect they deserved or why this particular goblin looked surprised that Harry hadn't gone over board and loaded himself with money, but of course Harry was incredibly intelligent and knew he had seven years at Hogwarts to see himself through before he could go on any spending sprees.

After bowing to every goblin on his way out again, Harry finally hit the high street, he remembered to be polite and courteous at all times, he apologized when he accidentally walked in to someone and bought everything he needed from his list, he even browsed in some shops for a bit, he found a couple of extra books that he wanted to buy, and even had enough for the ice cream he had wanted, it was a bit too sugary for his liking, but it was nice. He then remembered that he needed a familiar for Hogwarts, he had read that the first animal that a student chose would become that student's first familiar. He walked in to Eeylops Owl Emporium and wandered around looking at all the different owls and animals, Harry knew he wouldn't be getting a rat or a toad. So it was either a cat or an owl, he thought owls were the best choice, but on the way there he spotted something that he was drawn to, a four foot snake. He changed directions immediately and walked right up to the snake's glass tank. It was obviously a magical creature otherwise it wouldn't be here, he looked at the dark green snake, it had the most beautiful lime green eyes and exquisite markings he had ever seen. If it had been a human, the expression Harry would of used to describe it, would have been love at first sight.

"Excuse me sir." Harry called out to the shop keeper, who looked up, gasped, then rushed over to him.

"Yes Mr Potter, what can I do for you? Is there anything you need?" he fawned.

Harry was use to this behaviour by now, at first it was quite funny now it irked him, but of course being the polite young boy that he was he kept his temper under control and his thoughts to himself.

"Yes, I was wondering about this snake here." he said pointing to the green snake.

"Ah." the shop keepers face fell so dramatically, Harry giggled slightly, his giggle also gave him the appearance of a six year old, and, much to his annoyance, usually made people coo over him even more. "That snake has been here almost as long as I have, no one wants snakes these days, then again no one has ever wanted snakes, but its against the law for me to release a magical animal." he dead panned.

"I'd like to buy it please." Harry said enthusiastically.

"Are you sure Mr Potter? Snakes are quite a handful on their own, but a magical snake like this Ecryption green are border line lethal." he said worriedly, Harry could tell he was torn between pleasing him, the adorably cute and polite, boy-who-lived and selling a dangerous animal to a small, obviously under aged, boy.

"Please sir, I will take really good care of him, I promise." Harry pouted, he hated doing this to get his own way, but he really, really wanted this snake, he felt drawn to it, connected to it somehow.

"Well, okay then, but just for you Mr Potter." he said with a grin.

"Thank you very much sir."

Harry paid for his new snake and had it placed in an enchanted box, he then saw a snowy white owl on the highest shelf and remembered he needed to send his answer back to Hogwarts, he whistled to call the owl down, which it did so gladly landing on the small boys shoulder, he turned around to the shop keeper who looked like a fish out of water, Harry gave him a curious look, cutely cocking his head to the side, he looked absolutely adorable, not that he knew that of course.

"I…I have never been able to get that owl down from there, she has been up there for two years, wouldn't come down, not even when customers wanted to buy her." he stuttered in astonishment.

"Oh, well I just remembered that I need to send a letter, so I would like to buy her as well please." he said politely.

"Just take her Mister Potter, I haven't been able to sell her and I probably never will, it seems she has chosen you as her owner, just take good care of her, she's an incredibly intelligent animal."

"Yes sir I will and thank you very much, you are very kind."

The shop keeper nodded dumbly and watched as Harry left the shop with a giant magical snake, an owl on his shoulder and armfuls of bags, it was surprising the small boy could even lift it all, let alone walk without wobbling or stumbling.

Harry walked back through The Leaky Cauldron and almost forgot his manners and groaned as everyone turned to look at him again, it was just a good thing the box carrying his snake was covered, he knew that snakes were the omen of dark wizards, though he thought it was preposterous that an animal could be an omen of anything. He hurried out of the pub back over the road to the abandoned ally way. He concentrated incredibly hard and with a 'pop' he arrived back to his safe haven of a house.

He was worn out, hungry and tired, but he was happy none the less, he gave water to his new owl and took out his new snake. He examined it and started stroking its scales.

"You're very beautiful aren't you" he told the snake. Unbeknownst to him it came out not in English as he thought, but in a series of low hisses.

"_You speak the language?!" _it hissed back in amazement.

Harry was shocked, he could talk to snakes! For some reason though it didn't surprise him as much as it should have done, like he had known all along.

"_Yes I do, do you have a name?" _

"_No, you are my master you shall name me."_

Harry nodded his head and smiled, he could talk to his first familiar, and he had no doubt that his second familiar would be able to understand him perfectly.

Speaking of his second familiar he'd have to look up how many familiars he could have and he still needed to send a letter back to Hogwarts as soon as possible. He sighed heavily.

"_Is something wrong Master?"_

"_Just thinking, everything has changed now, it has changed so much, I've only been talking to myself for the past few years and not all that often, and now I'm off to school where just maybe I'll make a friend."_

"_Do not worry Master, Hogwarts is a brilliant place and I shall be there with you."_ his snake then proceeded to wind its way up Harry's body and came to rest on his shoulders.

"_How do you know I'm going to Hogwarts?"_ he asked in amazement.

"_I have my ways, you are the fabled phoenix child are you not?"_

"_I…what? No of course not I'm Harry, Harry Potter."_

"_Yes, you are the child of the prophecy, you are the child of the light, of the phoenix, you know of your past, of your defeat of Voldemort, that is why everyone knows you as their saviour, they believe that you can save them all from the darkness."_

"_Me!! But I'm only ten! Surely there are better candidates to defeat dark wizards?"_

"_Ahh, but you see there aren't, you are the only one, but do not panic." _the snake added when he felt Harry's heart beat faster. _"I shall be there every step of the way to help you."_

"_Thanks Forest."_

"_I shall take it that Forest is my new name?"_

Harry nodded his head. _"Do you like it?"_

"_I do, it reminds me of my home, when I was just a hatchling."_

"_At least something good came out of my head for once."_

"_You do not realise how smart you are Master Harry, now you are tired why don't you sleep some?"_

Harry nodded his head and went to his parents bedroom, he transfigured his clothes into nightwear and slipped under the duvet, Forest still wrapped around him like a piece of green, Christmas, tinsel. He fell asleep almost immediately and didn't know how much pain he had caused by ignoring the last part of his letter, in his rage at the schools book list.

--

At Hogwarts seven people were gathered in the headmasters office, awaiting the arrival of one Harry James Potter. Four of them were anxious, scared, ecstatic and nervous, one was indifferent, and two were eager, but anxious.

These seven people were Severus Snape, who really did not have any idea why he was there, Minerva McGonagall, Albus Dumbledore, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and James and Lily Potter.

As the hours passed, they became more anxious, Harry should have received and read his letter and should have arrived here by now, they found themselves thinking.

After another tense and quiet couple of hours Severus Snape was getting agitated, how very much like his father this boy was, inconsiderate and by the looks of things liked to be centre of attention. Severus knew that if this boy turned out like his father the wizarding world wouldn't have a hope in hell at defeating the dark lord. The boy was more than likely stupid, terrible at Potions and Herbology, loved Quidditch, was a bully, and thought that making chaser for the house team, in second year made you a god. Severus Snape couldn't have been further from the mark, Harry was more than likely the opposite of everything he just thought, except perhaps being terrible at Herbology, as there weren't that many books on the subject in Godric's Hollow library.

"It seems that our young Mr Potter is not going to be coming to Hogwarts after all." Albus said in a quite voice.

"But he has too!" wailed Lily.

"Why wouldn't he want to come here?" asked Sirius.

"Perhaps someone is stopping him from coming, he could be a prisoner somewhere." came the incredibly helpful input of Severus.

James immediately stood up flanked by Sirius, both had their wands out ready to curse the man in front of them.

"Stop it!" came the stern tone of Minerva. "As much as you don't want to hear it, Severus could be right! Now stop acting like children!"

James sat down heavily and comforted Lily, whilst Sirius remained standing and looked like he just didn't know what the hell to do.

"It seems we took a lot for granted." Albus stated. "We didn't take in to account that Harry might be living with someone, whether by choice or not and it never crossed my mind that he just might not want to come here, for all we know he might have accepted a place at another school."

"But…"

"I need to think on this development some more, I shall send word immediately if he does arrive, I shall keep you updated if I find anything out." The dismissal was blatantly clear and Severus strode from the room followed by Minerva and then, at a more leisurely pace, the three marauders and a heartbroken, Lily.

--

The next morning Harry woke up feeling more hungry than he had ever felt before, for a moment he was confused, then he remembered the events of yesterday and realised with a groan that he had skipped dinner last night in favour of sleeping.

He stood up and felt incredibly heavy and when he looked down he saw a gigantic snake wrapped around his body. His eyes opened wide and he almost had a panic attack (something that had been a regular occurrence in his life due to flashbacks and fears of ordinary things, such as sudden flashes of the colour green or being around too many people at any one time.) before he realised it was just Forest, he forced himself to calm down and breathe.

"_Master what is wrong?"_

"_Nothing Forest, nothing at all."_

Forest looked unconvinced, but thankfully didn't press the point. Harry walked out of his bedroom and went straight to the kitchen, he made himself a huge breakfast and ate it with impeccable table manners than no child of his age should ever possess. After breakfast he had a quick shower (after dislodging Forest first, of course) and then sat and read his new books, absorbing the new information like a dry sponge squeezed and released underwater. He learnt a lot that morning about wizarding laws and by lunch he was seething over the injustices of the world he was about to enter.

He slowly chewed his sandwich despite wishing to tear it to shreds with his teeth, after all he did not want to look like some starved animal, even if there wasn't anyone to watch him do so.

"What am I going to do Hedwig?" he asked his owl, which he had of course named Hedwig from a past history book he had read. "These people obviously don't give a damn about their own kind, let alone others! All this prejudice and suspicion, I don't think I'd fit in, I'm really open minded and favourable to all kinds of concepts, but to willing put myself in a place of narrow mindedness and unfair judgements? I don't think I could do it, I wouldn't be able to handle it, I'd snap and shout at people and I really don't want to do that. I realise that some people will think like me, but as far as I can see most people really don't care, that's what really boils my blood. What am I going to do?"

Harry sighed as Hedwig hooted sadly as if to say 'I know, but there is nothing we can do about it.' Harry smiled at her and fed her a portion of his sandwich.

"Right, I think it's high time for training." he said happily as he finished his lunch.

Harry walked in to one of the rooms at the back of the house, he had dubbed this room his training room as it was very large and spacious, he guessed that this room use to be either a formal ball room or a room that was never used.

It had hard wooden flooring and was decorated in a dark red colour, the walls were covered in shields, coats of arms, decorative swords (that he used for training) and even had a fireplace in the middle of the back wall.

He spotted Forest slithering around the edges of the room and called him over.

"_What is it Master?" _he hissed.

"_I was just wondering why you weren't sleeping anymore. Was the bed too uncomfortable? Should I find a new one for you?"_

"_You are truly kind Master, but that_ _wont be necessary, I just wished to watch you train."_

"_Oh, okay then, I still have no idea what I'm going to do today though." _

"_Why not try a mock duel?"_

"_You know what that's a really good idea, thanks Forest."_

Harry went back to his bedroom and shifted through his purchases until he found a thin box, he liked Mr Ollivander, but the man was, to put it bluntly, creepy. What did Harry care if his wand had the tail feather from the same phoenix as Voldemort's? What did he care if people expected great things from him? He just wanted to be himself, not some show off-y saviour.

Harry walked back in to his training room and started testing simple spells with his wand, it worked like a dream. Smiling to himself he conjured up wooden structures resembling people, and proceeded to cast as many offensive spells as he knew at them, ranging from 'Reducto' to 'Inflamari' then proceeded on to a very strong blasting hex and a slicing jinx.

At the end of his practise he was incredibly happy with his new wand and the progress he had made. He made his way back to the kitchen and after feeding Hedwig and Forest he proceeded to feed himself. After he had finished eating he cleaned up the mess he had made and then grabbed one of his new books and started reading it. He was so engrossed in his new book he didn't even notice Forest climb his way up to his shoulders, so when he started speaking it was a terribly nasty shock for Harry, who thought he would have a heart attack.

"_Master, should you not be sending your reply to Hogwarts? Tomorrow is the thirty-first of July."_

Harry's heart skipped two beats, tomorrow was the 31st? Tomorrow was not only the deadline for the Hogwarts applications, but it was also his eleventh birthday!

"_Damn it, thanks Forest I completely forgot."_

Harry reached down and pulled up the discarded Hogwarts letter and once again pulled out the pieces of parchment, he looked through them until he found the welcome letter from Ms McGonagall and a letter that he had over looked. He read the letter and immediately dropped it, the words glared up at him from the floor.

Dear Mr Potter,

If you are receiving this letter then I wish to welcome you to Hogwarts, I am the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore and I believe that in your best interests, you should come to Hogwarts immediately and not wait for September 1st. If you agree with this then this letter will turn in to a portkey (A magical device that transports the traveller to his desired destination.) and you shall arrive at Hogwarts, in my office.

Yours sincerely

Albus Dumbledore

Harry was gobsmacked, a portkey! The damned letter was a portkey! Anyone could have written that letter, it could be set for any destination in the world! How could he know that it was the Headmaster who wrote it? How was he to know it was set to go to the Headmasters office in Hogwarts? The was no way he could know! He pointed at the letter with his finger and incinerated it, there was no way he was taking a blind portkey anywhere! Besides he had read that the Hogwarts express train was magnificent and that first years took a fleet of boats to get to Hogwarts. It was supposed to be a breath taking experience and he did not want to miss it, even if it meant ignoring the letter from the Headmaster, Harry knew it was rude of him, but he couldn't see any other way.

"_Master?"_

Harry startled and looked at Forest.

"_It's nothing Forest, just the Headmaster decided to send me a portkey via letter."_ Harry deadpanned.

"_You are worried it might not have been a genuine letter?"_

"_It's a possibility isn't it? Did I do the wrong thing?"_

"_No Master, I think you did the sensible thing, it could easily of been a fake, but I believe it was genuine."_

Harry sighed. _"Still I was really looking forward to travelling to Hogwarts like everyone else, you only get to travel across the Black Lake in first year."_

"_Then you made the right decision, never let anyone dictate your life Master, make your own life and follow your own rules, do what you feel is right, even if others say its wrong." _

"_Thanks Forest." _

Harry picked up a piece of parchment and a quill and politely responded to Ms McGonagall, saying that he would love to attend Hogwarts school. He then called Hedwig over and after sealing the envelope sent her off to Hogwarts with a stroke to the head and a worry filled 'safe flight'.

He sighed again, he was really going to miss Hedwig. He sat back down and picked up his abandoned book and once again dissolved in to his learning.

--

The next morning Harry woke up and the first thought that went through his head was 'Happy birthday Harry, your finally eleven.' He hopped out of bed and went straight in to the shower. After breakfast he sat at his window and stared at the sun rising on the horizon.

"_What are you thinking about Master?"_

"_It's only a month now before everything changes, I'm having second thoughts about this, I don't think I can go through with it, I've become so use to my daily routine, I wont be able to keep it at Hogwarts will I? I have to go by their rules and their routine. I don't think I'll respond to that very well."_

"_Then go by your routine, by their rules."_

"_How do I go by doing that Forest?"_

"_Well follow your routine like you normally do, get up at your normal time, eat in the school kitchens, study until its time for your lessons, you will still be learning in your lessons so that isn't a problem, eat lunch with your classmates, you will have to go back to your lessons instead of training, but after your lessons end, go and train, then go back to the kitchens to eat dinner, then off to bed, see its easy to work out compromise if you use your head."_

"_That's a really good idea, thanks again Forest, I don't know what I'd do with out you, I'd probably bottle out at the last moment, but then again there is still a chance I'll do that now." _

"_I will not let you Master, you will have a wonderful time at Hogwarts, you need to go to learn of your true power and become the child of the phoenix."_

"_You still haven't told me why I'm the child of the phoenix? I mean why me? I'm nothing special."_

"_And that is where you are wrong Master Harry, you are more extraordinary than anyone could ever of imagined. I now know why the phoenix chose you, and personally I think he made the right choice."_

Harry shook his head and sighed. (he seemed to be doing that a lot lately.) There was no getting through to Forest, Harry had learnt incredibly quickly that his snake possessed a stubborn streak, maybe that's why Harry liked him so much, they both possessed stubborn streaks to rival each other, but he hated it when Forest made out that he was destined for greatness, just like Mr Ollivander, Harry just down right did not believe them, he was no different from the next kid, probably a bit more scared, but all kids had a phobia of something or other, so overall he was exactly the same as them.

Harry picked up his book and started reading until lunch and carried on his daily routine as normal.

--

Meanwhile at Hogwarts the resident staff members were in the great hall eating their own breakfast talking about nothing in particular, when a very beautiful, snowy white, owl flew in, she immediately drew all eyes, as she landed gracefully on the shoulder of Professor McGonagall.

Looking very confused Professor McGonagall removed the neatly written letter from the bird and watched as it soared away through the roof windows.

The Professor then proceeded to open the letter and scanned it quickly and did a double take at the signature on the bottom of the letter, she then let out a surprised yell and jumped up to her feet.

"Minerva! What is it?!" cried Albus in concerned alarm.

"Albus! Albus he wrote to us! He's coming to Hogwarts! He's actually coming here!"

"Who Minerva?"

"Harry! Harry Potter!"

There was instant uproar in the hall, before Albus set of a loud bang with his wand.

"What did he say Minerva?"

"He just said that he accepts the invitation to join Hogwarts school and we will see him on the first of September!"

Remus Lupin who was the only marauder sitting at the table took the letter from his former professor and head of house, read the letter himself before running out of the hall to tell Lily, James and Sirius, who had decided to grab a late breakfast in the kitchens so they could sleep in, today of all days! He knew that today was Harry's eleventh birthday and that it always got everyone incredibly depressed, but Harry had wrote to them! He had actually wrote this letter with his own hands!

Remus was so out of breath when he arrived at the private rooms that the four were sharing he had to sit down before he could even call them.

Once he got his breath back, he proceeded to yell like he was dying right in the middle of the common room.

"Lily, James, Sirius! Get your fucking arses in here now!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

James came skidding in to the common room in just a pair of pyjama trousers looking terrified, he was followed closely by a distressed Lily and then Sirius stumbled in wearing next to nothing and looking so disorientated, it was comical.

"Remus! What the hell are you playing at?!" raged James after he saw his friend was in no immediate danger.

"Yeh Re, I was sleeping!" added Sirius.

"Well sor-rry, I just thought you'd like to know your son and Godson Harry, wrote to the school this morning, whilst you all lazed around in bed."

That comment immediately caused shocked silence and all three of them looked at Remus, who smiled in a knowing way and held up the letter he was holding in his hand.

James darted forward and snatched the letter out of his hand and read it through quickly with Lily reading over one shoulder and Sirius reading over the other.

"Oh my god! He's coming here! He's really coming." choked Lily, tears streaming down her cheeks.

James pulled her in to him and comforted her, whilst grinning like a mad man.

"His handwriting looks like a girls." commented Sirius who received a slap to the face and a punch to the shoulder from Lily and James respectively.

"What?!" he cried. "It does! Its all neat and cursive." he pulled a face and then ducked another blow to the head from Lily. "Stop trying to hit me woman!"

"My baby does not write like a girl!" she screamed at him. "Just because he doesn't have chicken scrawl handwriting like you!"

"No need to blow up at me! It does look like girls handwriting! Right Moony? Back me up?!"

Remus who was almost doubled over with laughter held his hand up to Sirius and managed to get out. "No way! I agree with Lily." before collapsing with James at the look on Sirius' face.

Sirius went in to a sulk and huffed away saying he had better things to do than be ganged up on, which of course sent Remus and James off even more, so it was a good ten minutes before they had calmed down sufficiently enough to follow him to the kitchens to get a late breakfast, for they had no doubt that that was where Sirius had gone.

"How did the letter get here Remus?" asked Lily. "Did it come by owl?"

Remus nodded at Lily and James who perked his ears up as the conversation turned to the son he hadn't seen for almost ten years.

"Yeh, it was a beautiful, snowy white owl."

Lily smiled, glad for all the little tidbits she could get about her long lost, baby boy. She clutched at the letter as if it were a life line, reading and then re-reading it, drinking in his neat writing and his curly signature.

The four couldn't wait until the first of September when they would see Harry for the first time, but they and the rest of the staff were all wondering over the same thing, why didn't Harry take the portkey? But that question and all the others would have to wait until Harry arrived now, but little did they know they would be hearing of Harry earlier than any of them expected.

--

This is technically Chapter One, but oh well, hope you all enjoyed it, I really didn't think I'd get so many reviews and alerts for just the Prologue. Thanks to all of you who reviewed so far and a special thanks to Shankstar89 for being my first reviewer for this fic. Sorry to disappoint you all but Chapter two will be shorter than this one, but Chapter three will be longer, I hope. x


	3. Daily Prophet Reports and the Month of

_A/N: I was outstanded to see how much support this fic has! Thank you all for reviewing and adding this fic to your favs/alerts/C2s! You all keep me going. Please enjoy chapter two. X_

_Chapter Two - Daily Prophet Reports and the Month of August _

_Lily sat down in between her husband and Remus, she was still clutching her son's letter, afraid to let go of the only link to the present day Harry she had. She had, of course, memorised the short acceptance letter by heart in a very short amount of time and even though there was no need to have done so, as a highly amused Sirius was constantly reminding her, she had still done so, drinking in his writing and signature, analysing his script and comparing it to her and James', obviously she found that it matched hers more, but not by much as his handwriting was completely his own. _

_It was now the first of August and it would be a month today until she could see her little boy for the first time in ten years. Her heart constricted painfully as she thought of this, ten whole years in which she didn't know where he was or what he was doing, where she couldn't cuddle him or keep him safe, where she couldn't even feed him, heal his cuts or sooth away his bad dreams. _

_Lily knew that James felt guilty that he hadn't believed her when she had claimed Harry was alive, he had confessed to her the same night that they had found out he was still alive, but Lily also knew that James was feeling guilty, just like her, for not being there for their baby boy when he needed them to provide for him the most basic of human needs, they had come to an unspoken agreement that they would spend the rest of their lives making it up to him in any way they could think of. _

_Lily was shaken from her thoughts by the arrival of the morning post, which brought her, her usual morning newspaper; The Daily Prophet, but today she took one look at the headline and screamed. James, Remus and Sirius were immediately by her side asking her what was wrong, she didn't reply just slammed the paper onto the table so they could see the headline and article clearly._

_BOY WHO LIVED SEEN ALIVE IN DIAGON ALLY!_

_By Robert Monahan, 37_

_Harry James Potter, 11, thought to have been dead for many years has been spotted in Diagon Ally! The impossibly small boy, just walked straight through The Leaky Cauldron without acknowledging anyone, residents and customers of the pub were incredibly shocked by his sudden appearance and Tom the pub owner made this statement. 'It was without a doubt Harry Potter, he looks like an exact replica of his father James, except for his eyes, definitely Lily's eyes.'_

_Many eyewitnesses reported that the supposed eleven year old looked more like five! The three foot, six inch boy, walked around Diagon Ally for hours! One eye witness had this to say; 'I was so shocked to see how small and skinny he was! Someone that small and vulnerable should not have been left to shop on his own! Poor little thing had to carry all those heavy bags himself and he didn't so much as utter one word in complaint when one of my little ones accidentally knocked in to him and made him drop all of his things, actually he acted quite the contrary, he was very polite about it, seemed to think it was his fault for some reason, wouldn't stop apologizing, love his little heart.'_

_Harry was reported to be wearing a bright green tee-shirt with worn, denim dungarees and white trainers, clothing that no ordinary eleven year old would even consider wearing, and grouped together with his babyish appearance only served to make our young Mister Potter look even younger. Mr Jonas Williams, 43 commented. 'I really couldn't believe he just walked around Diagon Ally without asking for directions to shops or getting lost! It was almost like he knew exactly where to go, but without ever being there before I find that very hard to believe, It almost, in fact, seemed like he was afraid to go near anybody! I can understand why he would have some wariness of approaching strangers, but not to the extent of completely avoiding any contact with anyone! When I went up to him and asked him if he was okay, he just looked like a deer caught in the headlights, he was incredibly scared and quickly nodded his head yes and backed away from me. I thought it very strange.'_

_Questions have been raised about Mister Potter's abnormal behaviour by shoppers and residents of Diagon Ally, but shop owners commented on how 'polite and sweet' he was. Miss Lyndsay Gallagher, 25, Assistant manager for Flourish and Blotts told us that 'He was a shop owners dream, he was so inquisitive and bright! He bought all of his Hogwarts books with no fuss at all and then proceeded to ask me about almost every book that the store owned, before buying a few of them, he's such an adorable little thing too, so handsome, loveable and he is the perfect definition of cute. He was so charming, respectful and sweet, before I met him I would never have believed a child his age could possess such traits, but here I am today and I stand corrected.' _

_Questions have also been raised about where Mister Potter is actually staying. He obviously isn't staying with his parents, Lily and James Potter, both 32, as many of us know they would never have let him out of their sight, we must also take into account, the entire wizarding world, including James and Lily, thought that young Harry had died shortly after his defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Why Harry has suddenly reappeared in our world, after supposedly being dead, is anyone's guess, but more pressing questions are at hand, such as 'where has our Mister Potter been all these years? Is he living with other people? Was he kidnapped after his defeat of the dark lord? Why hasn't anyone spotted him before now? And what is his mental state?' _

_St Mungos senior healer and expert child behaviourist, David Earl Alfred DeCouser, 67, reported that Harry's behaviour in Diagon Ally was more than likely caused by deep rooted psychological trauma. 'He is showing signs of extreme wariness and suspicion towards all other people, he only approached others when absolutely necessary and even then he was timid and meek. His body language suggests that he was expecting someone or something to attack him, he held his body stiff and all of his muscles were tensed in anticipation. He walked determinedly to each of his destinations and kept his head down and his eyes averted, in a primitive show of submission.' _

_Due to this disturbing revelation many of us here must insist that Mister Potter is checked out at St Mungos hospital as soon as possible to insure his health and safety, also because Mister Potter has been missing for ten whole years, where no one has seen hide nor hair of him or even heard from him, it is a high priority that Mister Potter is checked out by St Mungos head specialists as concerns have come to light about his mental state, where he could possibly be mentally retarded, subnormally incompetent, or suffering from severe psychological trauma and mental decomposition. _

_Harry will be going to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry for his first year this September, on behalf of all of us at The Daily Prophet we wish Mister Potter good luck with his school year and hopes he has a wonderful time._

James slammed his fist in to the table the moment he stopped reading.

"How dare they!" he raged, turning very red. "They have no right! No right at all to assume these things! There is nothing wrong with my son!"

"They say all these damn ridiculous things about how mentally retarded he is without even talking to him first and then have the audacity to wish him well and dare to say good luck to him for when he goes to Hogwarts!" Sirius shouted. 

"I'm going to march straight in to that god damned office and hex every single person involved with this article!" Lily yelled whilst storming out of the great hall, watched by surprised staff members and followed by red faced, rage fuelled marauders.

--

Harry woke up incredibly sore, he sat down at the windowsill having skipped breakfast due to nausea. He couldn't bring himself to continue his book on wizarding law either, it was an incredibly interesting book, but he just didn't feel like reading at the moment, for the first time in five years he just really didn't feel like studying.

He sat and absentmindedly started rubbing his right shoulder and neck. He sighed heavily, he had only been sick once in his lifetime, when he was seven and he really didn't have the aspiration to ever want to repeat the process again, he had been bedridden for three whole days and four nights. He had grown incredibly weak and couldn't get up without falling over and causing terrible bruises, if it was one thing he had learnt, it was that he bruised incredibly easily, he had once gotten a bruise from pinching himself after he had seen the moving magical pictures when he had first came here, for gods sake!

He hadn't been strong enough to make himself food, so he had gotten up mainly for water and even then he could only manage small sips before throwing up, he couldn't even manage getting up to vomit sometimes, so he had to vomit on his bedcovers, something that was incredibly unpleasant and degrading. It was times like these where he wished he wasn't alone, that he had someone who could look after him, someone who actually wanted to look after him, someone who loved him and someone he could trust and love back. He had cried a lot during that time, it reminded him of how alone and vulnerable he actually was, but he couldn't help it he was agoraphobic, (fear of leaving safe places.) anthropophobic, (fear of people.) and scopophobic (fear of being stared at.) he really didn't know how he coped with it sometimes, the trip to Diagon Ally had almost killed him, all those loud, people staring at him like he was the main attraction from a freak show in a circus! He was also, for some reason, nyctophobic. (fear of the dark.)

He couldn't stand any of these phobias, it made him feel isolated and weak, but no matter how hard he tried he could not over come his fear of the dark, he was at least making progress with the others, as his trip to Diagon Ally had proved, he still wasn't one hundred per cent comfortable with it, but at least it was better than a few years ago when he wouldn't have even of considered stepping a foot near any other person. How the hell was he supposed to go to school when he got withdrawal symptoms from stepping out of the front door?! He knew that the phobias had come from his early childhood, he had been alone for so long now, just him and the silence, he was afraid of change, afraid of destroying the comfort he had built for himself, he felt a great sense of satisfaction knowing that he had lived and ran this home and now he was going to have to leave it for ten months of the year, it was going to be extremely hard for him to cope, no breaking in period, no help, just him and his two familiars, unless of course he actually made a friend, he didn't hold much hope for that though.

Harry gripped his abdomen as he felt his stomach lurch. He really did not feel well anymore, but he supposed that four years without being sick was long enough, it was bound to have come and caught up with him soon or later. He crawled back to bed with a glass of water and lay down, his head was spinning and he couldn't focus on anything, he cursed softly, he just knew he had gotten this sickness from Diagon Ally! Someone there had passed on their virus to him! He had a very weak and vulnerable immune system, having lived in isolation, sickness and diseases came very rarely and even then it was normally nothing more serious than a winter cold.

Harry threw up and once he had started he couldn't stop, the bile just kept coming and coming and pretty soon he was dry heaving and crying, he hated this show of weakness, he hated crying and he had never done it in front of anyone else, well he obviously had as a baby, but that was besides the point, he was in pain! His stomach and throat burnt, his head was pounding and he could no longer see anything but black and red dots, that were dancing in front of his eyes. He was going to regret admitting it later, even if it was only to himself, but he was scared. He didn't know what to do in this situation! He had read books on healing, but books only took you so far, plus they were all about healing another person in his place! He couldn't perform the spells on himself, they weren't designed for that and besides he was far too weak to even keep a steady grip on his wand, let alone try to cast wandless magic, he wasn't stupid enough to try it either, it would take what little energy he had left.

Harry began sweating and shaking, he had nothing left to throw up, but that didn't stop his body from trying still, it felt like his body was trying to eject his stomach through his mouth and it was not a pleasant feeling. He hoped to god that this was not a magical disease, but a very bad stomach bug. He would have no option but to go to St Mungos if it was a magical disease, he knew next to nothing about them, having only read three books in total on healing. He hoped it never came to that, hospitals held thousands of people, far too many for Harry to deal with all at once, but then something else came to his mind, how would he get to St Mungos even if he needed to? He couldn't apparate away, he'd splinch himself, plus it took a lot of magic and concentration to apparate, something which he didn't have at the moment, then again he needed to be able to stand and he couldn't do that either. Why did these things always happen to him? He was once again bedridden, he could barely move let alone attempt to get himself to St Mungos or some other place that could find out what was wrong with him. If he was able to he would have sighed, the pain was building in his stomach and behind his eyes, and he knew before it happened that he was going to throw up again, and he wasn't wrong, his head was now lying in his own vomit, something which he was sure wasn't helping him and only making him throw up more and the sour smell reached his senses and the bitter taste in his mouth didn't do much to help either, but he was powerless to do anything about it, he was stuck until the sickness past.

Harry was now very pale and very weak, he was sweating, shaking and vomiting, he felt like his insides were on fire, the overwhelming urge to just close his eyes and sleep was growing stronger, he fought it off as long as he could, but in the end he was far too weak to keep up the battle for long and finally allowed himself to pass in to black unconsciousness.

--

James Potter was in an incredibly bad mood, after going to the Daily Prophet offices, he, along with Lily, Sirius and Remus, had shouted themselves hoarse at the editor and the writer of the report on Harry, but it had gotten them no where, as the editor had pointed out, the article had already been printed and dispatched to millions of readers across the United Kingdom, but this had only added fuel to the fire. Lily and James had refused to give up, they had blasted every point the article had mentioned, until they had finally run out of steam and stormed out of the building in foul tempers, then Snape just had to be in the entrance hall on their way back to their quarters and he just had to mention the article, making some stupid remark upon how much James and Harry were alike as they were both mentally retarded. It had not gone down well, honestly the man just did not know when to shut his mouth! So James and Sirius had ended up blasting him halfway down the dungeon corridor, before carrying on to their quarters where they found, not peace as they would have liked, but Albus Dumbledore who had come to tell them that the Daily Prophet article was right about one thing, Harry was indeed three foot six inches tall! He was the average height of a five to six year old! This got James' temper flaring, his son was so small! He was obviously not growing! He needed his parents, he needed to be looked after and until September they had no way of knowing what was happening to him or how well he was! Anything could happen in a month, he wanted his Harry back and he wanted him right here, in his arms, right now! He wanted to show him how sorry he was, how guilty he felt over believing he was dead when he wasn't and most of all how much he loved and missed him. He just wanted his baby boy back, was that too much to ask? He felt like breaking down and crying his miserable little heart out, but he knew once he did, Lily would and quite possibly Sirius and Remus as well, they had always seen Harry as a son as much as he had and he didn't mind in the slightest, Harry was the first baby born a marauder, he was special as he would most likely be the only marauder ever born, Lily and him were not planning anymore children, Remus was forbidden to have children after the law that foul Umbridge woman had passed and Sirius was just Sirius, he was far to immature to handle a kid and as he had said himself having a Godson was more than enough for him. No he had to stay strong, for his sake, as much as everyone else's, but it was incredibly difficult when he kept having visions of his tiny son laying battered, bleeding and nearing death, in some abandoned, street, ally way, he let out a barely concealed dry sob and coughed a couple of times, he excused himself and finally after a couple of strong locking charms and a few silencing spells, he let himself break down and cried on the bathroom floor for his little boy, who he was missing like hell and was desperately hoping was okay and that the visions he was having were just figments of his stressed and overactive imagination.

--

That was the official chapter two, chapter three will be up soon. Hope you all enjoyed it and I know a few of you have become confused over a few issues in this story, such as why no one has found Harry in Godric's Hollow, the answer is simple, Lily and James couldn't bear to go back to the place where their little boy had 'died', not even to collect their things, the memories were far too painful, even after ten years they couldn't face the fact their baby was dead, so they never went back, and whilst Harry was with his 'carer' (you will learn more about her in later chapters, she does play a role in how Harry has turned out and why he's so scared and messed up.) the ministry scoured the area trying to find Harry's body but found nothing, after that they didn't want to touch it, they made it in to a memorial site for Voldemort's defeat and Harry's 'sacrifice'. I would also like to stress the fact that Harry ended up in Godric's Hollow by chance, because it was the only 'safe' place he knew, even if that place was in his subconscious mind. He wished himself to the safest place he knew, which happened to be Godric's Hollow, the first home he had ever known and the only place he had ever been happy. As you found out in this chapter, Harry is petrified of other people, that is why he apparated to an abandoned house rather than Hogwarts or somewhere that was inhabited.

I hope that cleared that up for you, and please do not be afraid to ask questions if you are confused, I will clear it up for you, and don't be afraid of giving criticism or helpful hints or inputs, I honestly don't mind. StarLight Massacre X


	4. Disatrous Diseases and an Unexpected

Chapter Three - Disastrous Diseases and an Unexpected Surprise.

It had been over three weeks since James had broken down in the bathroom of the Marauders quarters, he was still unable to shake off the vision completely, but he had managed to suppress it with the knowledge that he would know for sure in just two days time. He smiled at that thought, he would be able to see his long lost son in just two days, then very suddenly, a new emotion gripped him, nervousness, this was the first time he had felt it in a very long while. What if Harry didn't like him? What if he blamed James for not being able to protect him? Oh god, now he just felt sick and panic stricken, it wasn't like him to get worked up like this, but then again this wasn't a normal circumstance! This was his son's acceptance he was thinking about! He couldn't calm himself down; two days seemed like nothing now! Oh god, why hadn't he taken time to prepare for his son's arrival?!

Lily must have walked in at some point whilst he was panicking, because all he knew next was he was in her arms and he was breathing in her scent.

"What's the matter James? I would have thought you'd be ecstatic. Sirius and Remus are why aren't you celebrating with them?"

"I…I…Oh god Lily what if Harry doesn't like me? What if he doesn't want to know me? I've failed him! I couldn't protect him! What if he blames me for not being there to protect him?"

"Oh James! That's just silly." Lily admonished him lightly. "Just be yourself and he will love you! He is going to love you, because lets be honest here, what's not to love? Just because your pigheaded and down right childish at times, doesn't mean he wont like you, you helped to create him for goodness sake, just give him time, he may not open up to us or accept us straight away, but all we can do is reassure him that he wont be alone anymore, that we are here for him if he needs us and that we love him more than anything else in this world."

James sighed lightly and kissed his wife on the cheek. "How is it you always know how to make me feel better?"

Lily laughed. "Because I have more sense and know you better than you know yourself!"

James huffed and kissed her lightly on the lips before getting up and stretching his arms over his head.

"Where did the mutts get too?" he asked.

"Last time I saw them they were fighting in the common room." Lily giggled.

James rolled his eyes. "Let me guess Sirius got outsmarted, so he started calling Remus 'old' and it escalated from there?"

Lily nodded her head whilst laughing. "You know them too well." she commented.

"No, their just so damned predictable! I don't see why Sirius calls Remus old when he's the oldest out of all of us!"

"You know he'd never admit to that though." Lily giggled, giving her husband a pointed look

"Hey, it's not my fault he was born at the end of November and I was born in December! He's the one that was born 6 weeks premature, not me!"

Lily was now laughing out right, whilst James scowled at her; he huffed again and went in search of his 'old' friends.

* * *

Harry was still lying in his bed, he felt like dying. He was supposed to be going to Hogwarts it just two days! He couldn't even walk down the stairs without feeling dizzy! He looked like he had recently died, his eyes were outlined with black bags from the lack of sleep, and he had lost a bit of weight after three weeks of eating nothing but small morsels of light food, such as soup, giving him an almost skeletal appearance. His skin was now a greyish white colour that made his vibrant eyes stick out more than ever and it didn't help that his jet-black hair framed his face, making him look paler by comparison.

He still had cold sweats and suffered from horrific nightmares of his past and of the murders of innocent people, he had no idea where those dreams came from but he didn't like them, if he didn't know any better he would have though he was suffering from deliria.

Forest had kept him as much company as a snake could, but without any sort of limbs he could only watch as Harry became weaker and weaker. He might have been all knowing about magic, but healing was not his strong point, he normally caused the damage in the first place, not cured it.

Harry had done next to nothing for three weeks, he had ignored all forms of exercise let alone attempted his training regime, he occasionally read a chapter in one of his books, but he spent most of his time lying on his side counting the hours down until he could take another dose of pain reliever potion.

Harry wasn't stupid, he knew something was seriously wrong with him, he had next to no energy, so couldn't even attempt to get to St Mungos let alone attempt to do any magic. He doubted it was a magical disease, he had bought a book on magical illnesses in Diagon Ally and he had none of the symptoms of any of them so far, he was still looking, albeit slowly, but he was still getting somewhere.

If it wasn't a magical disease, then he most likely had food poisoning, he admitted that he didn't really pay much attention to what he ate, but he always made sure his food was cooked properly, at least he thought he did. Oh god he was so confused! He kept contradicting himself, he couldn't think clearly! Every time his mind came up with a reasonable explanation for his predicament, he contradicted himself and came to the conclusion it could just as easily be the complete opposite.

He groaned and rolled back on to his stomach, it was probably the worst position to lie in as it put pressure on his stomach, but he couldn't risk falling asleep on his back, if he threw up when he was asleep he could easily suffocate or choke himself to death and he obviously didn't want that to happen, no matter how much he felt like dying.

Harry fell into a fitful sleep, his confusing thoughts turned into even more confusing dreams. Forest slithered up the bed leg and curled up on Harry's small body. He had taken to doing this since Harry's body was always incredibly hot and made for the best sleeping place.

Harry woke up to the sensation of being crushed, he immediately panicked and twisted himself around, when he realised that Forest had been sleeping on his back. He let out a shaky laugh, picked his snake up and wound him around his wrists.

_"Master?" _

_"Yeh?"_

_"Are you feeling better? You had me and the bird very worried, you have been sleeping now for twenty-eight hours."_

Harry felt his mouth drop, twenty-eight hours! He was going to Hogwarts tomorrow! There was so much he still needed to do, he threw the vomit-covered duvet off of himself and stood up, only to collapse straight back to the floor.

He had forgotten that he hadn't eaten or moved in three weeks, he was now incredibly dizzy and he had double vision. He had also found out the hard way that it probably wasn't the best of ideas to get up after how he had fallen asleep. He felt slightly better, but his stomach was churning violently.

Harry closed his eyes, leant against the side of the bed, and waited for the nausea and dizzy spell to fade away. It took a couple of minutes before he could open his eyes again and when he did he realised three things all at once, one - at some point Forest had wrapped around him, two - he was very obviously still suffering from his mystery illness and three - his legs were shaking badly.

He threw up on the white coloured carpet, it was then that he realised something else, he had just thrown up blood. He immediately began to panic for the second time that morning. Blood wasn't supposed to come out of the mouth! Didn't he read somewhere that that indicated internal bleeding?!

"Alright just calm down." he coached himself out loud. "Just because you read it somewhere doesn't mean that there isn't some other explanation, I can just go and see the school nurse tomorrow or something."

With that thought he sighed and attempted to get up, it took five consecutive tries before he managed to get himself up from the floor. He gripped on to the bedpost, which was the only thing keeping him upright and waited for his legs to gain some strength, it probably wasn't helping that Forest was really heavy either, but who was he to tell him to get off when Forest had been so good to him.

When he thought it okay to walk he let go of the bedpost and wobbled for a bit, before he set off for the bathroom, it took him nearly two hours to get to the bathroom and have a shower, by the end of which he was exhausted, but clean and incredibly happy. With a weak smile on his face, he slid down the stairs on him bum, he really didn't think it was a good idea to walk down them, in case he fell and injured himself.

He made his way slowly to the kitchen and made himself a light meal, he didn't know how much he would be able to hold down, but he needed something for tomorrow, he had to apparate to Kings Cross and needed all the strength he could get. After eating a few spoonfuls of cereal and a couple mouthfuls of toast, Harry started feeling queasy and stopped eating.

Pitiful was what went through his mind, but at least he was eating something and at this point in time anything was a godsend to his starved body.

_"Master Harry?"_

_"What is it Forest?"_

_"Am I going to Hogwarts with you and the bird?"_

Harry frowned, he thought it was obvious that Forest would be going with him, as his first familiar Forest had to go with him, it was in the wizards charter of rights, that a witch or wizards first familiar had to accompany it's owner everywhere, with no exceptions. But then again he doubted that the charter was including snakes when it was written and didn't the Hogwarts letter say 'an owl, a cat or a toad?' Hey, it wasn't his fault he wanted the snake, he loved Forest and he was his first familiar, there wasn't much anyone could do about that. Harry turned back to Forest.

_"Yeh, you're coming with me, I wouldn't exactly leave you behind now would I?" he asked smiling. _

_"But snakes are not allowed at Hogwarts, no exceptions. We are the omen of dark wizards."_

_"Nonsense ,they are going to have to make an exception, I'm not leaving you anywhere, you stay with me at all times, if they don't like it they can kick me out, I don't exactly need a school, I'm fine here on my own."_

_"Still thinking of bottling out then?"_ Forest put in slyly.

Harry frowned again, but then shaking his head slightly, he smiled at his snake.

_"So what if I am? Isn't it natural to be a little bit afraid of new things? I haven't exactly lived in the wizarding world now have I? How do I know what to expect? Well then again if its anything like my trip to Diagon Ally then I'll have everyone staring at me." Harry shuddered at the thought; maybe it wasn't the best of ideas to accept a place at Hogwarts after all._

_"It is natural, yes and I believe a lot of the students will stare at you because of your past and your fame, but this should not be off putting, you should take the life fate deals out to you, make the most of what you have been given and become the best you can be, that way no one can fault you."_

Harry smiled as he made sense of those wise words. _"Thanks Forest, you really do give great advice."_

Harry stretched and heard his back crack a couple of times, he giggled for no apparent reason and then set of crawling back up stairs, after all going up the stairs was possibly more dangerous than going down them. If it was a choice between falling backwards or falling forwards he'd take forwards at least then he knew what was coming.

He made his way to his bedroom and saw all the Diagon Ally bags and boxes littering the floor, he grimaced at the prospect of so much work so soon after getting up, but he couldn't help it he was going to Hogwarts tomorrow! It didn't help either that it wasn't morning as he had thought it was when he had woken up, but early evening; it was already five-thirty!

He set to work neatly packing all of his things into his new trunk and made sure to lay out a set of robes on the top, so he wouldn't have to go digging through it tomorrow on the train. He snapped the lid shut and locked it securely, he was just about to call it a night when he realised that he had left out half of his new books, he scowled and aimed a kick at his bedpost before deciding against it, the last thing he needed right now was to over exert himself and be hobbling around with a broken toe.

He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands; he opened his trunk again and shrunk his books, and placed them with all his other shrunken items. Honestly did they really expect them to fit all of their stuff in one trunk? It was impossible and with all the non-curriculum books he wanted to take, it was more than unviable.

At last he had everything packed and he put a weightless charm upon his trunk, it would hopefully last until he reached Kings Cross, he'd have to heave it on to the train though. He moved it with ease to beside the door. He stretched and yawned, he was tired before he had started packing, but now he was shattered.

He climbed straight in to bed, he hadn't bothered changing from his pyjamas after he had his shower he had just used a cleansing spell on them, Forest wound his way around his body and got specific instructions from Harry to wake him up at half five the next morning.

Harry fell in to another nightmare-filled dream and woke up four times that night and all too soon, for Harry at least, he was being bitten and hissed at.

Harry sat bolt upright and looked from Forest to his bleeding arm. It wasn't painful; it felt more like paper cuts than anything else, proof of how sharp Forest's fangs actually were.

_"Sorry to wake you Master, it is just after half five, it is time to get ready to go to Hogwarts, and to let you know the bird came back with a ton of paper a few hours ago."_

Harry grinned his pleasure at having Hedwig back, he had missed her whilst she had been away, supposedly hunting, but two and a half weeks without her, was a bit long to be on a night time hunt, he had been very worried for her, and as Forest had told him, she had been worried for him as well.

_"Thanks Forest, I cant believe today is the day, I leave Godric's Hollow." he had a note of apprehension in his voice, something Forest picked up on immediately. _

_"What are you afraid of Master? " _

Harry giggled at his familiar, trust Forest to hear the slightest waver in his voice._ "I guess its just a bit overwhelming, I really don't want to encounter any belligerent_ _people."_

_"I shall be with you Master and I have heard that the school nurse is excellent at her jobin case you do have an accident."_

Harry couldn't help it he giggled his little heart out. It wasn't particularly funny, he just hadn't laughed much and three weeks without laughing was too long in his books.

He threw the covers off of himself and stretched; he slid out of the bed and noticed that he was feeling light headed at the slightest movement. He groaned, he still hadn't recovered one hundred per cent.

He made his way to the bathroom and showered, then before he got dressed he looked at himself in the mirror, he looked god damned awful! He looked like he had been living underground surviving off of dead leaves for eleven years!

His ribs were clearly visible, his stomach was concaved, his eyes looked dull and were outlined in red lines and thick black rings, his hair was dull and lifeless, his skin was incredibly pale, if he didn't know any better he'd say he was a vampire!

He was now dreading going to Hogwarts, if only he hadn't of gotten sick! The glamour charm immediately came to mind, but he had to apparate later and if he performed a glamour charm and then didn't have enough magic or energy to apparate he was going to be stuck and the Hogwarts express waited for no one. He just couldn't risk it, he'd have to let people think he was an underfed vampire until he got better. Then he looked at the bite marks Forest had given him, they didn't hurt, no, but they looked incredibly painful now all the blood was washed off. They looked infected and sticky, but were in fact smooth to the touch, it was obviously the effect Ecryption Greens had on their prey, but, of course, in Harry's case at least, without the deadly toxic venom.

He sighed it was going to be worse than he first thought. Everyone was always going to stare at him because of his fame, but now they were going to stare at the famous, sick, vampire kid that looked like he couldn't carry his own weight let alone a heavy trunk and a backpack.

Harry got dressed in jerky movements, he was now incredibly nervous as well, his already unsettled stomach was churning unrelentingly.

Harry got himself dressed and then went and forced himself to get something in to his stomach. Again he couldn't manage much, his stomach felt like it was full of live, hyper active, caterpillars.

After he had washed up Harry then went and started stroking Hedwig, it felt like a lifetime since he had last stroked her soft feathers, he had missed her a lot more than he thought he had, it was then he noticed the newspaper she was standing on, this must have been the ton of paper Forest had mentioned. He lifted Hedwig off of it and picked it up, then, gently placing Hedwig down, he opened the paper and almost swallowed his own tongue.

The paper was dated around about a month ago and it was from when he went to Diagon Ally! He couldn't even shop without it being recorded! He read it through quickly, odd words kept jumping out at him, small and skinny, vulnerable, babyish, scared, strange, abnormal, died, kidnapped, mental state, psychological trauma, timid and meek, submission, mentally retarded, mental decomposition! Oh god was this how people saw him! He sat down, still clutching the paper and felt the tears spring up in his eyes.

_"Master?"_

_"I…I…they think I'm some weird, mentally challenged, freak."_ Harry's tears finally fell, one by one, leaving tracks that stained his cheeks behind them.

_"Then prove them wrong, you know you're not any of those things, yet you still let them get to you, you're stronger than this, you know you are, I know you are, even the bird knows you are! Wipe away your tears and prove those publishers wrong!"_

Harry broke a watery smile and stood up and washed his face in the kitchen sink, he looked at the newspaper on the kitchen table, only to find that Hedwig was standing on it pecking at one paragraph. Harry frowned and looked at the passage she was pecking at.

_'Harry was reported to be wearing a bright green tee-shirt with worn, denim dungarees and white trainers, clothing that no ordinary eleven year old would even consider wearing, and grouped together with his babyish appearance only served to make our young Mister Potter look even younger.'_

Harry looked at his clothing, there was nothing wrong with them was there? Was this why they wanted to write that horrible report on him? Because he was wearing dungarees?

_"Master? What is wrong now?"_

_"Forest, what's wrong with my clothes?"_

_"Nothing that I can see Master, why?" _

_"They fault my clothing in the article, I was just wondering why they would do that."_

_"Well your clothes aren't exactly what typical children of your age group would wear, but there is nothing wrong with them."_

Harry frowned, he liked his dungarees, they were the only clothes he had, he had never had money or the time to go and buy new ones, he just enlarged these when they started getting too tight, he had been wearing them since before he could remember. No wait, he could remember, his 'carer' had dressed him in these clothes specially to dump him on the streets that fateful day, two days before he had found Godric's Hollow.

Harry rubbed his face with his hands and then ruffled his hair. He sat at the kitchen table thinking hard. He liked the dungarees, they were comfortable and he was familiar with them, but he didn't want to seem like even more of a freak than he already was. He stood up and making up his mind he pulled out his wand, it would only take a little bit of magic, but he wouldn't miss it, it took far less magic to transfigure a piece of clothing than to cast and maintain a glamour charm anyway. With his mind made up he thought very hard and pictured a pair of smart jeans, he waved his wand and felt his dungarees change.

He opened his eyes a moment later and looked down, he sighed, he was going to miss his dungarees but these weren't too bad, he went in to the hall way and looked in the floor length mirror, actually looking at them this way, he really did like the jeans. But he really did need a belt, the dungarees had straps to hold them up, now he had nothing, so using a bit more magic he conjured a black leather belt and threaded it through the loops of the ink black jeans. He also changed his white trainers to black, to match the jeans. He looked back at his appearance, he looked much better, but he wished he had a jumper or jacket of some sort, the bite marks on his arm were now a mixture of red and green, swirled together in lines and puncture marks.

Oh well, it was too hot for coats anyway, he'd be stared at more than ever and that would be a catastrophe.

Harry was too nervous and excited to do anything other than pace around, checking everything was packed and that he had locked all the doors and windows, he knew no one would break in, he just felt peace of mind doing it, plus it gave him something to do.

At ten o'clock, he was shaking, he was having serious second thoughts, this shouldn't be so hard! It was just a school! He was going to learn things! Wasn't that a good enough reason to go?! But still he couldn't get himself out the door! Hedwig was securely locked in her cage, Forest was wrapped around him, Harry was going to put a disillusion charm on him the moment after he apparated, he could use as much magic as he liked after he had gotten there, it was before he got there that he needed to worry about, he still felt a bit weak in the knees, he was still light headed and his stomach was still unsettled, whether from the sickness or the live caterpillars he had no idea.

_"Master, just take it one step at a time, lets start by getting out of the front door."_

Harry couldn't bring himself to answer, he just pulled the door open and stepped out, his heart began racing, his breathing coming in short, sharp, gasps.

He chided himself, he had done this before! He had gone to Diagon Ally hadn't he? He had done that with the minimal of fuss, and now here he was panicking like a baby, just because he had to get on a train!

'Big wow Harry.' he thought to himself. 'This is another wonderful adventure, possibly the best one you have ever embarked on and you cant muster enough courage to get outside the front door! What sort of person are you?'

Spurred on by his own encouragement he closed his front door and started walking determinedly up the garden path, Forest hissing even more encouragement in his ear to keep him going.

He had just reached the gates of Godric's Hollow and the end of the apparation wards when he sensed, rather than heard, something moving behind him, he turned to face the source of the disturbance and felt his mouth drop to the floor in shock at what he saw.

--

Chapter Three there for you all, what do you all think of Forest? I've had people messaging me saying he's too nasty, he's not nasty, he's just honest. You're also complaining that he's bossy, he's not bossy either, he's just acting as a sort of surrogate parent to Harry, because lets face it he needs one until Lily and James can take over. You will find out what's wrong with Harry in the next couple of chapters and why he's so small and skinny. Just a quick question: What house do you want Harry in? I was going to put him Gryffindor, but you might not feel the same way. Again, I'm amazed at how much support this fic has. X


	5. The Hogwarts Express

A/N: This chapter was originally going to be posted next week but as it is, this chapter is now dedicated to Analeise, who is a very impatient reader, this chapter has been updated to quench your curiosity and also to Refuge of a P.e.n.c.i.l, whose reviews have spurred me on. I thank you both.

Chapter Four - The Hogwarts Express

Everyone was in a state of panic that morning in the Marauders quarters. Harry would be arriving that night! All four of them were happy, but very nervous.

Harry hadn't been seen since his trip to Diagon Ally, something the papers picked up and commented on frequently, using such headlines as 'Missing Potter not seen since June', 'Potter baby needs immediate care and attention' and 'Mentally disturbed Potter boy still at large.' It took all of their self-control and restraint not to go on a killing spree in the Daily Prophet offices.

Even after the warning they had given them after they published the first article about Harry, they hadn't listened, it seemed that that's all anyone wanted to hear about was, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, their saviour! It was foolish and unfair to push off their problems on to an eleven-year-old boy!

How dare they even think that their precious Harry would be going anywhere near that monster Voldemort, let alone duel him! None of them cared if it was prophesied or if it was what everyone expected of him, all four of them had come to an agreement that they would do everything in their power and them some, to stop Harry from doing anything dangerous, destructive or life-threatening, but as the Marauders had agreed, without killing the fun, so, much to Lily's displeasure, Quidditch was still allowed.

The day, for the staff and Marauders, was spent getting ready for the new school year and, in all but a few cases (Snape's), Harry's arrival. Tension and excitement were so high it was contagious; James and Sirius were literally bouncing off of the walls, where Lily and Remus were more reserved in their joy and excitement.

Most teachers were adding last minute touches to their lesson plans, but as the Marauders weren't teachers, their day was spent mooching around, pacing and counting down the hours until Harry arrived.

* * *

Harry was transfixed by the sight in front of him, down by the edge of the path was a baby snake, but that wasn't what caught his attention, no it was the colour of the snake, a pale, powder blue. It was beautiful. It was obviously a magical snake to be such a magnificent colour. He was now in a dilemma, leave it here to be attacked by predators or pick it up and take it with him, risking being bitten by a, more than likely venomous, magical creature.

He, perhaps foolishly, chose the second option; he couldn't just leave a baby snake to the mercy of dogs, cats and birds. It was more than likely only just a hatchling as it fit in the palm of Harry's hand and that was saying something. He brought it up to look at it more closely and noticed that it was bleeding slightly from its right side, he was too late to save it from predators, they had already gotten to it, Harry grew angry, he couldn't see its attacker anywhere so it must have been injured either in the night or some time early this morning.

"_Master?! What is that?"_

"_It's a baby snake, I don't know what breed it is, but it's obviously magical."_

"_Master! That's a Dusk Crawler! They're possibly one of the most deadly magical snakes in the world! That's why they are almost extinct! Wizards are killing them off because their so dangerous!"_

"_Wizards are actually killing them?! On purpose?! These snakes are endangered and their purposely killing them?!" _Harry raged.

"_Yes, I always thought this breed of snake was extinct until now, you must hold the last of its kind, now put it down!"_

Harry shook his head sadly, well he wasn't going to join the nasty, prejudiced wizards, he was going to look after this snake, he didn't care if it was the most deadly poisonous snake in the world or if it was the most harmless, it was injured and it was only a baby for gods sake!

"_How can you be sure it's a Dusk Crawler if their supposedly extinct?"_

"_The colour, it's unique only to the Dusk Crawler."_

"_So I have one of a dying breed?"_

"_Master, you can not be seriously thinking of keeping it!"_

"_Forest! It's a baby! What sort of person would I be if I let it go when it's injured and vulnerable?!"_

"_A smart one." _Forest replied bitterly

"_I don't care what you say! I'm keeping it!"_

"_Fine! But can we please leave now before the train does?!"_

Harry gasped; he had almost forgotten why he was outside in the first place! He was going to Hogwarts today and if he didn't hurry, he'd miss the train! He still didn't know if Forest was allowed, but throw in a baby Dusk Crawler, taking in what Forest had said about them with wizards actively seeking to stamp them out and make them extinct, and he was sure either to be kicked out or to have his familiars stripped from him. He didn't like either of those options, but he'd much rather leave the school than loose any of his familiars.

Harry jolted himself back to the present and looked at his watch, twenty to eleven, god damn it! He made sure he had a tight hold on his stuff and that his familiars were secured before he concentrated with all his might on a deserted street next to Kings Cross station. He disappeared and then reappeared almost simultaneously in a rubbish filled street a couple minutes walk away from the station. He cast a disillusion charm on Forest and the new snake he was still holding in his hand and felt a dizzying sensation pass through him, he closed his eyes and stood stock still for a few minutes then after wasting enough time for that day he started walking and following the road signs, he was now feeling the effects of standing up for too long, his knees were shaking so badly they were bashing against each other as he took baby steps towards the station, definitely not a good sign, he just hoped he would be able to get on to the train before collapsing.

Harry arrived at the station at ten to eleven, he was almost in a panic over how late he was and with Forest constantly hissing in his ear, it was quickly building up in to an anxiety attack. It was bad enough already that he was feeling awful without one of his familiars making it worse.

Then something else occurred to him, he didn't know how to get on to the platform! None of the books he had read said anything about getting on to platform 9¾.

He started panicking worse than ever; his heart was surely going to beat out of his chest cavity, why had he been so stupid as to think the platform wouldn't be magical! Everything else in this god damned world was!

He was just about to ask Forest about it when he caught a snippet of conversation from his left. He turned to face the source of the noise and saw a red headed woman shepherding five red headed children. Harry's heart skipped a few beats, they were definitely going to Hogwarts, same trunks, an owl and the woman, obviously the children's mother, was complaining about muggles! Yep definitely going to Hogwarts, Harry felt his tensed body relax slightly and he let out a shaky breath.

He approached the family just in time to see two red headed boys, obviously, twins as they looked exactly alike, disappear through an apparently solid wall, he felt his mouth drop. He stepped forward a few more steps thinking it might be an illusion, but could only see a solid wall; he shook his head, time to do the inevitable.

"Umm…excuse me." Harry had to bite his tongue hard to take his mind off of wanting to run away.

"Yes dear?" The woman replied in a kind tone. Harry had to physically dig his heels in to the concrete to stop himself from turning tail when the woman and the two children left turned to look at him.

"I was…I was wondering could you poss…possibly, tell me how to get on to the platform please?" he tried hopefully, she didn't look like the sort of person to laugh at his predicament, but you never knew what someone was thinking.

"Oh, are you going to Hogwarts as well dear?"

Harry, still biting his cheeks and tongue, nodded his head politely. "Yes ma'am." he managed to squeak, after finding out the hard way that nodding his head made him feel dizzy and nauseous.

The woman beamed as if she had never before heard someone being polite and respectful to her, well what nonsense, she had five children! Obviously, they treated her with respect, so he couldn't work out why she'd be looking at him as though he was the last of a dying breed.

"Of course dear!" she replied enthusiastically, beaming at him. "All you have to do is walk straight through the wall between platforms nine and ten, you can run through it if your nervous, go through now before Ron, dear." she smiled at him, indicating her other son, who was eyeing Harry like he had never seen another human being before, it was unnerving him.

Harry smiled his thanks at her. "Thank you very much ma'am."

He gave her a short bow out of respect and then wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier, it was incredibly clever to disguise it as a brick wall, but also incredibly stupid, sure it stopped muggles from finding it, but it also stopped students, like him, from finding it if they didn't have any wizarding relatives! How were muggleborns supposed to find it? Just start randomly running at brick walls? Or were they actually told? And because he wasn't a muggleborn, he was just expected to know? One thing was certain; this world was seriously messed up.

Harry walked straight through the wall, running drew attention that he didn't want, anyway there wasn't much to fear from a magical barrier anyway, even if it was disguised as a very solid looking brick wall, it was all just an illusion, it wasn't real.

On the other side of the barrier Harry found himself face to face with a beautiful, bright red, steam engine, the books were true to their word, it really was an eye opener, but that wasn't what drew Harry's attention, no, it was the platform full of loud chattering people, he almost ran back through the barrier, if it wasn't for Forest hissing at him to get on to the train, he might have forgotten why he was there in the first place.

He swallowed his fear and walked up to the nearest door, he took Hedwig's cage and placed her in to an empty compartment and then went back out to get his trunk off of the trolley and attempted to get it on to the train, the weightless charm had worn off just after he had placed it on to the trolley, for which he was very thankful, but now he was stuck trying to haul the heavy trunk on to the train! He slid it off of the trolley and started heaving it towards the train; he was joined not two minutes later by two red headed boys. The twins he had seen on the platform.

"Hey there mate, need a hand?" one of them asked him.

Harry was about to shake his head no, when he looked back at the trunk, remembered how heavy it was, how sick he was and how he really shouldn't be exerting himself and he changed his mind.

"Umm, if you don't mind helping, I mean, surely you can find a better use of time or have something better to be doing?"

"Nope, not at all, how about you Fred?" the other one said.

"No George, I really cant see myself doing anything other than helping first years get settled."

Harry smiled at them, he didn't know if it was a joke or not, but he liked these two and true to their word both of the boys helped Harry get all of his things stowed away safely.

"There we go mate, all settled in safely." the twin called George said.

"Or as safely as it can be, honestly they should make these racks higher, or at least put a spell on them to make sure the trunks don't fall out."

Harry giggled, they were right, it wasn't very safe, but who cared? The only way those trunks would fall out of the racks would be if the train engaged an emergency stop and the chances of that were less than fifteen per cent and on a school train even less than that.

"So what's your name? I'm Fred Weasley and this is my twin brother George."

"I'm Harry Potter, nice to meet you."

Harry had momentarily forgotten the reaction that saying his full name would cause, he felt as though he could trust these two, so he never thought before mentioning his name, perhaps he should have, because the moment he mentioned his name, the twins eyes widened and their mouths dropped.

Harry could have kicked himself, he averted his eyes and bowed his head, he was saved looking at them by someone calling Fred and George from out on the platform. They left the compartment still gawking at him.

When they had gone Harry sunk in to a seat beside the window, he looked out on to the platform and saw the red headed family just by the side of the window. He watched as they bantered and said goodbye to each other, he felt a pang in his chest and his eyes started filling with tears.

Harry sniffed and then gritting his teeth he wiped his tears away, he would not start feeling sorry for himself, he would not start feeling jealous of the red headed family, he wouldn't!

He came back out of his thoughts just in time to hear himself being mentioned and he felt his face flush.

"Hey mum, guess who we met on the train?! Go on guess."

"Who dear?"

"Harry Potter!"

"Really? How do you know?"

"We helped him with his trunk; it didn't look like he would be able to lift it half way off of the floor."

"Yeh, remember that little black haired, toddler boy we thought was lost on the muggle platforms? It was him, Harry Potter! The newspapers were actually right for once! He's tiny!"

Harry felt himself blush with mortification; they thought he was a weak toddler! He had never been more embarrassed in his life, and for the first time he was immensely glad he had transfigured his dungarees in to jeans.

"George! Leave the poor boy alone! I was wondering why he was on his own, the poor dear, he was ever so polite, I almost couldn't believe it."

"Do you think he has the lightning shaped scar?!"

"Or remembers what you-know-who looks like?!"

"Fred! George! Don't you dare even think of saying anything of the sort to him! That poor boy doesn't need reminding of that on his first day to a new school! I forbid you from saying anything about that to him, I mean it!"

"Alright alright! Keep your hair on!"

"Oh mum can I please go on to the train and see him, please?!" Harry heard the little girl whine.

"Ginny, the poor boy isn't something you stare at in a zoo! And you have already seen him on the station."

"But I wasn't looking at him properly then!"

"I said no Ginny!"

Harry felt a rush of gratitude towards the woman, he really didn't want people staring at him, it was bad enough people already looked down on him, he hadn't even disposed of the newspaper article, he couldn't bring himself to do it, it was, at the moment, in his jeans pocket.

Harry was brought out of his thoughts by a loud piercing whistle. Harry covered his sensitive ears with his little hands. Damn it he was never going to get use to that sound! It was ear splitting!

Five minutes later the train lurched forward and it was too late now to leave the train as Harry had been debating to do since the twins had found out he was Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived.

He sighed, he had stuck it out! He had actually done something brave and stayed here despite wanting to run as far away as possible! He smiled to himself, he probably would of regretted it in the morning if he had ran off the train then he would have been kicking himself for the rest of his life.

He was just about to pull his new snake out of his school book bag, to check it out, when the compartment door slid open, revealing the youngest Weasley boy, Ron. He looked breathless and desperate.

"Is anyone sitting there?" he asked pointing to the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."

"Not at all, please feel free to sit there."

Harry really didn't want anyone sitting with him, he was nervous enough as it is, without the added pressure of being gawped at, but he couldn't exactly say no now could he? If everywhere else was full the boy would have no where else to sit, and there was one thing that he wasn't, and that was selfish.

"Thanks, I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley." he exclaimed happily.

"Harry Potter." he mumbled.

"Are you really? I thought my brothers were lying, they're real pranksters, they'd think it was funny."

"Indeed we would little brother, but we weren't lying now were we." came the voice of one of the twins.

Harry and Ron both turned towards the compartment door to see the grinning twins standing in the doorway.

"I guess not, but you could have been!"

The twins rolled their eyes, and then winked at Harry. "Look after our little brother for us would you Harry? Were off to the middle of the train, Lee Jordan has a tarantula down there!"

Ron paled dramatically at the mention of the tarantula, Harry had found out Ron's phobia already, thus proving that he might have had more phobias than his classmates but they had phobias as well. He could have been wrong about spiders being Ron's phobia of course, but after reading a few psychology books, the thought never crossed his mind, he knew how people reacted to the things they feared, he knew all too well and Ron showed all the classic signs of fear.

The twins left the compartment and both Ron and Harry took to staring out of the window, but Harry soon noticed that Ron kept shooting glances at him. Harry smiled wryly, it was beginning, the staring had already begun and he hadn't even arrived at Hogwarts yet!

Harry looked across just as Ron looked up at him, Ron saw Harry had caught him and blushed.

Harry giggled; funny enough his giggle was the ice breaker and soon Ron started laughing as well.

"I still cant believe you're Harry Potter!" Ron burst out when they had both stopped laughing.

"What's not to believe? Its just a name attached to an identity."

Ron just looked at him funny.

"Are you kidding? After what you've done it's more than just a name, you're a legend already!"

"That was beyond my control though; I don't remember anything at all about that night."

Harry knew he was lying through his teeth, but he didn't feel up to sharing the horrific details of that night with anyone, he remembered very clearly the green light from the killing curse, Avada Kedavra, the bone chilling, high, cold, cruel, laugh, the splitting pain in his forehead and then the terrible scream of a grown man being ripped from his own body, Harry shuddered violently, he felt incredibly cold all of a sudden, he was immensely glad that Ron didn't notice his shudder or his obvious discomfort.

"Nothing at all?!"

"Nope, just a lot of green light."

"Wicked!"

Harry grinned for Ron's sake, he didn't think that witnessing the Avada Kedavra curse was 'wicked' the exact opposite in fact, but he wasn't about to say that.

"So do you have the scar?" Ron blurted out; he seemed unable to control himself.

Harry inwardly scowled. "Yeh, I do." he then pushed his fringe up to reveal his thin lightning bolt shaped scar.

"Wicked!" Ron repeated.

Again Harry grinned for Ron's sake.

"So you have four siblings?" Harry asked interestedly.

"No, I have six." Ron deadpanned, obviously the subject of his family was a sore spot, although Harry couldn't see why it would be, Harry would of loved just one sibling.

"Six? Wow that's amazing; I'd love a brother or sister." Harry found himself confiding.

"Why? They're annoying and always get on your nerves."

"I thought that's what siblings do? Sibling rivalry and all that? Isn't that supposed to be the rules of having brothers or sisters?"

"It's different when you actually have them though! You never get any privacy, there's never enough money to buy things you want and they always best you somehow!"

Harry could tell Ron was getting angry and was revealing more in his anger than he probably would of liked.

"But you love them don't you and they love you?"

"Well yeh."

"Then what's the problem? You all love each other and love is probably the best thing in the world. Love is an amazing thing, just imagine what it would be like if they didn't love you, how worse it would be if they weren't there to help you through life, or even worse still, if you were the only one, you had no one to confide in, no one to love and to play with, a world without love isn't a world at all."

"I guess so, but no matter what I do, they are always better than me!"

"It's easy to complain about everything Ron, but it's a much better use of time to make the most of what you have, others aren't as fortunate as you are. No matter what you do, there is always someone better than you are and there is always someone worse, you just have to wait to find out what you are good at that they aren't, it could take a month it could take a couple of years, but no one is good at everything, it's the way the world works."

Ron just looked at him funnily. "I guess you're right, I never looked at it that way before, thanks mate, you're really good at those speeches."

"No problem." Harry said whilst blushing.

They fell in to silence once more before the lunch trolley came around, Harry still had some gold left and he wanted to try a few wizard sweets. He bought a few things and set them down, he looked at Ron who was squishing some sandwiches between his fingers, Harry giggled and Ron looked up.

"My mum forgets that I hate corned beef!"

Harry laughed. "Eat some of this then, I wont eat it all, I just want to try it."

Harry revelled in the look of delight upon Ron's face. He had to admit it felt good to share his things, even if it was just a few sweets.

Harry and Ron talked about nothing and everything, Ron told Harry all about Quidditch, whilst Harry filled Ron in on some secrets he had found out about Hogwarts.

A couple of hours had passed when the compartment door opened again and a bushy haired girl came in.

"Has anyone seen a toad by any chance? A boy named Neville has lost one."

"No." replied Ron rudely, the girl looked scandalised.

"No I'm sorry, I haven't seen one either, I'll keep a look out for it though." Harry told her, the girl smiled at him.

"Thank you, are you first years as well?" she asked curiously.

Harry nodded his head. "Yes we are, you're welcome to join us."

The girl blushed, looking like no one had asked her to join in a group. She smiled widely revealing rather large front teeth. Not that it mattered to Harry, his weren't much better, his small and pointy teeth probably only added to his injured, baby vampire look.

"I'll just finish looking for Neville's toad, then I'll be delighted to come and join you both."

Harry nodded his head in understanding and then when she had left looked back at a red faced Ron.

"What's the matter Ron?" he asked out of concern.

"How could you invite that bossy girl to join us?!"

"What's wrong with wanting friends?"

"Nothing, but why her?"

"Why not her? She seems okay to me."

"She's so bossy though! Whatever house she gets in to I really hope I don't get put in to."

Harry narrowed his eyes at Ron, he didn't even know the girl, yet he was proving Harry's theory right, nearly all wizards were prejudice!

"You don't know her yet, she could be really nervous, people act out of character when they are feeling a strong emotion, like anger or fear." Harry knew this scrap of information from the few books he had read on human psychology.

"Alright fine have it your way, but I still don't think it will make a difference."

Harry had to suppress a giggle, Ron had unintentionally reminded Harry of Forest, speaking of which, Harry subtly placed his hand on Forest who had taken over the seat next to him. Harry sincerely hoped that the girl didn't try to sit next to him and crush Forest.

The compartment door opened and Harry turned to greet the girl and felt his heart leap in to his throat, it wasn't the girl who was framed in the doorway, it was someone Harry desperately never wanted to see again.

* * *

Hermione Jean Granger was walking down the train, opening every compartment and asking everyone inside them if they had seen a toad, a boy who she had met when she first boarded the train, Neville, had only put Trevor down for a moment to show her a picture of his grandmother, but in those few moments Trevor had vanished, they had searched the compartment before realising the compartment door was ajar. Hermione had cursed her own stupidity at leaving the door open after she had returned from the little girls' room.

And so here she was now, looking for the toad she had inadvertently lost. She had almost reached the end of the train now and she couldn't stop her mind from wandering back to the black haired boy in a compartment near the back of the middle section of the train. He was a very polite boy and seemed sincere about wanting her to join him and his friend, if only his friend felt the same way. She didn't miss the look of disbelief the red haired boy had sent him or the look of horror on his face when the black haired boy had asked her to join them, but if it was one thing Hermione had learnt it was brains like her didn't make friends easily, this boy had asked her to join him, even though he didn't know her and she wasn't about to pass up potential friends, but if they found out she was a brain box would they still want to be friends with her? Or would she blow her chances? There was only one option if she wanted to keep these boys as friends, she'd have to dull herself down a bit, at least until she could gauge what they really felt for her, she couldn't help but feel this was some sort of trick, she had had many tricks like this played on her before and she wasn't about to forget the pain and hurt she had felt when she had found out that those girls were only using her so they could copy her homework to get better grades.

Hermione felt tears prickle at her eyes at the memory that still caused her so much pain, many years on. She brushed them away and after asking the last compartment if they had seen Trevor she walked back down the train to report to Neville that Trevor wasn't at the back of the train. She passed the black haired boys compartment and felt unexplainable worry grip her, she pushed it aside as worry over whether or not he wanted to be actual friends with her and carried on to find Neville.

If only she had looked in the compartment she would have had the shock of a lifetime.

* * *

Harry looked at the blonde boy framed in the doorway, he had hoped that he wouldn't have to meet him again so soon. Harry had met him in Madam Malkins robe shop. He was exceedingly arrogant and haughty. Harry had disliked him on sight as he watched him order the robe fitter around, the poor assistant looked like she was about to break down and cry. Harry instantaneously hated anyone who made people feel like the assistant had, especially if it was a woman at the hands of a man.

After their disastrous meeting Harry was forced to conclude that this boy, Draco Malfoy, had become the first ever person to get a rise out of him. After what he had done to the assistant, all the things he had said about muggleborns not being allowed in to Hogwarts and the way he had slanged off Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, Harry had felt such shear anger bubble within him that he had accidentally blasted the boy off of his stool and made him bounce off of the opposite wall. Luckily for Harry no one was around to witness it as the assistant had finally cracked and broken down, she had been taken to the staff room by the other assistant and Madam Malkin who was helping to fit Harry had gone to find a robe in a suitable length, as she had said, she had never seen a Hogwarts student so small before.

Luckily the boy hadn't been hurt too badly, but he looked at Harry in shock, the side of his head was bright red from where it had smacked the wall and Harry thought of the assistant this nasty boy had reduced to tears and felt himself grimace in shock at what he had done, he hadn't meant to hurt him, hell he hadn't even _wanted_ to hurt him, but again he thought of the things he had said and the distraught assistant and thought that if anyone deserved to have a taste of his own medicine, it was this boy.

The boy had misinterpreted Harry's grimace for a smirk and had shouted at him, he had flung the robe he had been wearing to the floor and vowed he would get Harry back and with saying that he stormed from the shop.

Harry had hoped he wouldn't see him again until he was safely inside Hogwarts, but as he looked at the smirk on Draco's face he knew Draco was taking his revenge now.

"Well well, what do we have here, the little runt who thought he could get one up on me when I wasn't expecting it, I can tell you wont be getting in to Gryffindor with that cowardly act you pulled back in the store, guess your going to end up in Hufflepuff! You didn't even wait around for me when I came back to the store with my father, after I told him what you did to me he was just _dying_ to meet you." he came fully in to the compartment and shut the door behind him.

Harry sent a glare at the blonde boy, he hadn't even come here alone! He had two bodyguards with him and Harry was sure he wouldn't come up to the waists of them!

"And just look at the company you're with little tot, red hair and worn out rags you call wizarding attire, definitely a Weasley!" he said maliciously to Ron.

Ron flushed as red as his hair and drew out his wand.

"Now now Weasley, wouldn't want to do something you'll regret now would you." Malfoy sneered as his bodyguards moved to flank him.

Harry could barely think past his rage at the insult he had thrown at Ron, how dare he say anything like that to him!

"Malfoy, leave now." Harry managed to hiss past his gritted teeth.

Ron looked at Harry with emotion plastered on his face, it became obvious to Harry that he hadn't had very many people, if at all any, stick up for him before.

"Going to make me runt?"

Harry immediately stood up and marvelled at how Malfoy took a step backwards, Harry realised that he only came up to just above Draco's elbow.

Draco noticed this as well and his face split in to a sadistic grin.

"You know, I never really paid attention to your height in the store, we were standing on stools then and I didn't believe the papers much either, but this is just too good to be true, Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Got-Lucky, really is the same height as a toddler! How pathetic are you Potter? You cant even grow right!"

Harry was gritting his little teeth so hard he thought his jaw would break, he willed the tears he could feel filling up his eyes to go away, but most of all he wished Malfoy would go away.

"What this? Tears as well Potter? You really are a baby!" Malfoy laughed in the poor boys face.

Just then a chocolate frog packet hit Malfoy square in the face, right between his eyes. Harry let his amusement bubble over his rage and happily giggled his heart out.

From what he could gauge from the situation, Ron was getting angrier and angrier and tried to curse Malfoy, before realising that he didn't know any real spells yet, so instead he had picked up the sweet and thrown it at Malfoy instead, Harry found it incredibly hilarious and let Ron know that by giving him the thumbs up. Ron grinned back then doubled over laughing as Malfoy turned around revealing a red mark shaped like pentagon, directly in the middle of his forehead. Ron's roaring laughter and Harry's bubbling giggle filled the compartment.

Draco lashed out at Harry punching him straight in the face then before Harry had time to register what had happened, had him pinned up against the window by his throat.

Ron launched at Malfoy by his bodyguards stopped him. Harry's hands pulled at Draco's larger ones, but they wouldn't budge, he thrashed from side to side as his air supply was cut off, he felt Malfoy's grip tighten.

"This is my payback Potter! How dare you attack me in public! Do you know how much embarrassment I went through when my family and I found out that it was you who had attacked me?! A three foot nothing cry baby?!" he raged tightening his grip again.

Harry felt his chest become tight, his throat was burning with the need for air. Harry knew Draco couldn't kill him, this was punishment for humiliating him, but that didn't mean Harry had to accept or like it.

Harry felt his blood pounding in his ears, he felt his brain beginning to shut down from oxygen deprivation, his movements became slower and he closed his eyes. He heard Ron yelling and shouting as though from a great distance, then suddenly Draco released him, he felt hands on him and opened his eyes and saw Ron's distraught and worried face.

"Harry?! Harry are you okay?!"

Harry boosted himself up to a sitting position and saw a strange sight before him, the girl from before and Ron's twin brothers Fred and George were in the compartment, the girl was kneeling on the floor almost in front of him and the twins had their wands out and were levitating the grotesque forms of Malfoy and his two thugs.

He heard everyone gasp when they turned to look at him. Harry furrowed his eyebrows, what was wrong with them?

"Is there something on my face?" he asked lightly, trying to mask his fear at being in such close proximity to a lot of people, who were openly staring at him.

No one answered him but the girl reached out slowly and touched his neck. Harry tensed at her movement towards him, he didn't like people touching him, but the moment her fingers made contact with his skin he felt slight pain and he flinched.

Harry saw the rage in the twins and Ron's eyes, he wanted to know what was wrong with them, but the girl was still touching his neck and he couldn't focus on anything else, he wasn't use to any sort of human contact, it felt wrong and uncomfortable, he wanted it to stop, so he did what he had wanted to do the moment he had stepped foot on the platform this morning, he ran.

He heard shouts behind him but he didn't listen to them, he ran past people who had their heads shoved out of their compartment doors, he raced past people who were standing in the corridor and he ignored the pain and exhaustion his sick and battered body was emanating. He didn't stop until he had reached his destination, the boys' toilets.

Harry locked himself inside and turned around in the cramped box, he looked in the mirror that was over the sink and gasped, now he knew what everyone was looking at, around his neck were vivid bruises, bruises that were in the perfect shape of fingers.

Harry's shock overwhelmed him, of course he bruised really easily he knew this, but to walk in to Hogwarts with such obvious marks of strangulation! His eyes were still lined with red, but the black rings seemed to have gotten bigger, making it look like he hadn't slept in a lifetime, he also had a big purple bruise on his cheek nearer to his jaw bone from where Malfoy had punched him.

Rage and disbelief were all he felt, then weakness and failure, he smashed his hand in to the wall of the toilet and then in to the mirror, he cried out and suddenly realised he had made things ten times worse by letting his emotions run wild. His fingers were bleeding and his knuckles were bleeding and bruised. Harry sat down on the floor and cried. This wasn't how he had imagined his first day at school, it was very far from it.

Then something else just had to happen to make every even worse, he threw up, he had pushed his recovering body too far, of course the strangling session hadn't helped either. It was half an hour before Harry could pull his head out of the toilet bowl. He was still crying and his throat and stomach burned. And as if this wasn't enough, he had just gathered his thoughts only to remember that Forest and his new snake were still in the compartment.

Flushing the toilet and washing his face and mouth out with water Harry unlocked the door and went, as quickly as he possibly could, back to his compartment, it was excruciatingly obvious that he had been crying and the bruises on his face and neck were getting darker, his blood from his hand wound was starting to clot, but it was still incredibly painful.

Harry slid the door open to reveal the Ron, the new girl, the twins and another red headed boy that Harry recognised as the oldest Weasley boy.

The looked up as he came in there was only one vacant seat and it was the one he had been sitting in before any of this happened, he focused his eyes intently on the seat and could just make out a vague outline of Forest, he mentally sighed with relief.

"Harry?"

Harry looked up, it was Ron that had spoken, Harry sent a small, weak smile at him and sat down in the vacant seat slowly, to the others it looked like he was in terrible pain and couldn't move his body well, but in reality he was moving so slow to give Forest time to slither up on to Harry's body and around to his lap.

"Harry are you okay?" asked the girl.

He just nodded his head at her, everyone knew he was lying, the tear stained cheeks was a dead give away and the cut hand was another.

"Harry? My names Percy, I'm a prefect. Do you want me to heal your hand?"

Harry looked at the oldest Weasley boy and shook his head. He had to see the nurse anyway, might as well let her do her job and heal his hand as well.

"Are you sure it looks painful." he persisted.

Harry nodded his head, he didn't want to talk to anyone, he was feeling uncomfortable and panicky with all of their gazes directed at him, he willed himself not to throw up again, but the more the thought about stopping it the more pressure he felt on his stomach, he suddenly made a gagging motion, holding his stomach and lurching forward. He didn't let the vomit and bile pass his lips but the others noticed it.

The girl immediately leaned across to him and Percy the prefect conjured a bucket for Harry, in normal circumstances Harry would have been incredibly embarrassed by this, but at the moment he really didn't care. He threw up repeatedly in to the bucket, at the end of which he was exhausted, in pain and completely empty.

His fever was back with a vengeance as he could feel the beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, face, back and neck, his body felt like it was on fire, yet on the inside he was uncomfortably cold, causing him to shiver. He bit down on his bottom lip to stop himself from crying.

He looked up in to the worried and concerned faces of the five people in the compartment, he willed his pain and discomfort away, he sat up slowly and leant against the back of the seat, he could feel Forest slithering restlessly on his lap.

"Are you feeling better?" the girl asked.

Everyone knew the answer was no, but it was an obvious question to ask to fill in the awkward silence.

"M'fine." Harry mumbled.

"Right, I'm going to inform the headmaster that there was serious trouble on the train. Don't worry Harry those boys will be punished and will never bother you again" Percy barked in authority as he stood up and left the compartment.

Harry seriously hoped so and looked at the girl next to him and smiled weakly at her, she smiled back.

"I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger, its nice to meet you." she said formally, no one knew that inside Hermione was cursing herself for being so formal, it had slipped out before she could stop herself from saying anything, this dulling down business was harder than she first thought.

"Hi Hermione, I'm, as you probably already know, Harry Potter. Its nice to meet you too." Harry replied through gritted teeth in an exhausted, croaky voice.

Hermione was confused, was he humouring her by coping her formalities?

They were fast approaching Hogwarts, Harry had needed help getting his robes on, something which he found utterly mortifying.

When the train finally stopped Harry was ready to just crawl in to bed and sleep for the next week, his neck, hand and jaw were sore, although the pain in his hand was his own fault. Harry had Forest wrapped around his waist and shoulders again and he had discreetly placed the baby snake in to a colourless bubble and was floating it just in front of him. The weight of Forest alone was making him slow and sluggish, add everything else he was feeling and what had happened and Harry was incredibly surprised he was still standing.

The three first years said goodbye to the twins and left with the other first years over to a man who was absolutely massive! As Harry looked at him he realised that this man must be either a very small giant, a very, very large man or a half giant.

He beamed at Harry when he saw him, but his look turned to confusion when the light of his lamp illuminated Harry's injuries. The man never said anything just led the forty new students to a small fleet of boats that were harboured on the bank of the black lake.

The little boats carried them over the lake in the pitch black, the only light coming from the lanterns at the forefront of the boats.

Harry found the energy to enjoy the ride, it really was impressive and then he saw it, the colossal castle that was situated in front of them, Harry's face pulled upwards in to a smile, it really was remarkable and for the first time Harry felt at peace and contented looking at the place he would call home for the next seven years.

* * *

This is the longest chapter to date to make up for the last chapter being posted so late, I am aware that some of you dislike Harry being ill, I promise it wont be for much longer he will recover once he gets the proper medication, as for Draco's actions he acted out of humiliation at being attacked by a 'runt' and spite because that's just how he is, at least in this fic he is.

Just to let you know Harry isn't 'weak' or 'mentally weak' because he's crying, he is just emotionally challenged at the moment because he hasn't had any fights before in his life, he has lived in isolation so therefore doesn't know how to react to fights, insults etc. He will get 'stronger' when he learns how to deal with his emotions, remember, he has never had to deal with these strong emotions before and can't surpress or bury them, he doesn't know how to.

A quick reminder that the next chapter will contain the sorting ceremony, it's not too late to vote for which house you want Harry in, so far Ravenclaw has the most votes, Gryffindor is a very close second with one point between the two houses, and falling dismally behind are Slytherin and then finally Hufflepuff. This will be your last chance to vote, after the next chapter is posted Harry will not be resorted and it will be too late to change the house you have chosen to place him in. You can just put the name of the house in a review or a PM it doesn't matter, I want you to vote because I want you to be involved with this fic, I want you to give advice, tips or criticism to help me know where you want this story to go, I may use your advice or I may decide to go with my own, but all advice will be taken to heart. X


	6. A Sorting to Remember

A/N: A big thanks to everyone who has reviewed this fic and a special thanks to cutieme012 for being the 100th reviewer for this fic.

Chapter Five - A Sorting to Remember

Harry was right, the castle was huge! Up close, it looked even more magnificent than even he could have imagined, he couldn't wait until he could explore it and the grounds!

Ron was on one side of him chatting non-stop about what his brothers and parents had said about Hogwarts and Hermione was on his other side staring open mouthed at the castle. Harry broke a slight smile at her astonishment.

The giant man, who had introduced himself as Hagrid, knocked three times on the massive oaken doors and then stood back, a few moments later the doors cracked open and Hagrid led the terrified students inside.

The entrance hall was massive, it looked like it could house four very large cathedrals, it was made of what looked like either polished stone or dull marble.

A tall woman with a sharp, intelligent face was waiting for them. She wore emerald green robes and a pointed black hat.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid boomed, his loud voice echoing around the entrance hall.

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them now."

The woman, Professor McGonagall, turned and surveyed them all slowly as she welcomed them all to Hogwarts and told them all about the houses and the sorting, to Harry it looked like she was looking for someone in particular, her eyes made contact with his and Harry saw her eyes widen to almost comical proportions as she surveyed him. Her gaze lingered on the purple-black bruise on his face, the finger marks around his neck and his bruised and bloody hand. She looked shocked and horrified; Harry immediately dropped his head from her penetrating gaze.

Harry glanced back up to see if she was still looking at him; she was, with an almost unbearable look of pity and sadness etched on to her face. Harry dropped his gaze yet again, he couldn't bear anyone's pity or sympathy, so he got in to a little tussle because he was caught off guard, something that by all rights should never of happened in the first place, he had never been off guard before, but in his amusement at Malfoy's face he let himself slip just once and it had gotten him beaten almost to the point of un-recognition. He had sworn never to let his guard down again, even for a second, after he had been chased by those nasty teenagers, but he had disregarded it in one day and it had resulted in a disaster, he would have to be more disciplined!

Someone prodded him in the back of the head and he turned to see Ron.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"We have to get in line to be sorted mate, weren't you listening to Professor McGonagall?" Ron asked him back.

Harry looked around him, all of his classmates were standing in a straight line, Hermione was in front of him and Ron was behind, Harry giggled as his mind came up with the picture of no one being able to see him over Hermione. With a wide smile, Harry walked behind Hermione in to the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

* * *

The Marauders were seated at the top table, all of them were restless, Hagrid had come in to the hall, which meant that the first years were currently in the entrance hall. Their baby boy Harry was mere feet from them!

Nervousness and tension gripped them, James had been physically sick twice since that morning; he couldn't remember being this nervous in his life. Lily was paler than usual and she was gripping James' hand tightly underneath the table. Remus was as nervous as hell, but he was very good at hiding it, after all his cub was finally coming home why wouldn't he be nervous? He couldn't stop the negative questions from running through his head. Would Harry be prejudice? Would he be afraid of him? He didn't think he'd be able to handle it if his only cub rejected him. Sirius was probably the least nervous out of the group, but he was still staring at the doors to the Great Hall waiting impatiently for the first years to appear. Unlike the others, he was optimistic that Harry would love them all, but if for some strange reason he didn't, Sirius wouldn't give up until he made Harry like them.

The four jumped and James felt himself go green again as Minerva walked in to the hall leading the new first years, but the staff were immediately draw to the fact that she looked horrified and as pale as a sheet and also seemed to be a second away from bursting in to tears. The four looked at each other, they had never seen Minerva act like this, let alone be on the edge of bursting in to tears and they had lived in the castle with her for ten years, not to mention the seven years they had spent here as students.

Nether the less she led the new students up like she always did and the first years grouped around the front of the teachers table. The entire staff (minus Snape) scanned the group of forty new students, one thing was apparent, there was no head of messy jet black hair, Harry was missing! The group began to panic, Minerva's horror was now apparent; she hadn't seen Harry there either.

Filius Flitwick came and placed a three-legged stool directly in front of the teachers table, upon the stool was a very old, patched and dirty hat.

* * *

Harry, who was standing in between Ron and Hermione and directly behind a boy with sandy blonde hair and a black boy with tightly curled hair, he craned his neck around the tall boys and looked at the hat, he withdrew his head quickly and felt himself gag, he had never seen anything that dirty in his life, not even the half a foot thick dust collection that had covered the floor when he had first took up residence in Godric's Hollow!

The hat opened a rip near the brim and started singing! Harry hadn't seen anything as ridiculous as a talking hat ever. This hat was going to sort them? He was supposed to put his faith in a hat? Let a hat read everything that he kept in his head? Harry found himself wondering if this hat had a confidentiality pact or not, there was no way he would open his mind to a hat if it was just going to tell everyone what was in his head anyway.

Harry was knocked out of his thoughts by a loud voice announcing.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

Harry watched as a young girl with blonde pigtails stepped forward and had the hat placed upon her head. It fell over her eyes as she sat down. After a moments pause the rip near the brim opened and shouted out.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

One of the tables on the right side cheered and clapped, Harry had a sudden desire to turn tail and run, the noise coming from that table was tremendous! Harry grimaced and felt a new wave of nausea sweep up his throat. He begged whatever god there was out there that he didn't throw up in the middle of the Great Hall. That would be the last thing he needed. Harry slipped back in to his thoughts trying desperately to concentrate on keeping the vomit down in his stomach, he wasn't nervous about the sorting, no he'd be at home no matter what house he was in, just as long as he was in this castle, no the thing that was worrying him the most was the hat reading his thoughts and memories, the schools reaction to his injuries and the reaction Professor McGonagall had when she saw him.

Harry snapped out of his thoughts as Professor McGonagall shouted out.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Harry gave Hermione a nod of encouragement and she almost ran up to the top table looking like she just wanted to get it over with. There was a slight pause before the hat yelled out.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Next to him Ron groaned as the table on the far left exploded in a tidal wave of noise, it took all the self-restraint Harry had to stop himself from covering his ears.

Harry tuned everything out yet again, his knuckles were stinging slightly now and he could still feel Draco's fingers around his throat, Harry shuddered, he seriously hoped him and Draco were even now, he didn't think he could take any more of Draco's 'punishments' and if Draco didn't leave him alone he'd set Forest on to him, let Forest deal with Draco. Harry stuffed a little hand in front of his mouth to muffle the sound of his giggling, lucky for him that the hat had just shouted out 'Ravenclaw!" to a girl called Sally-Anne Perks.

Harry caught a movement by the side of him and looked across at Ron who was grinning bemusedly at Harry having heard him giggling.

Harry didn't have a chance to explain as Professor McGonagall shouted out his name. Harry blanched then quickly rearranged his face in to a blank expressionless mask to hide his ever growing fear and, after a quick thumbs up and a nod from Ron, stepped out from his hiding place behind the other students and walked up to the stool.

* * *

Minerva sniffed discreetly and then announced the one name the entire hall had been waiting to hear.

"Potter, Harry!"

The four Marauders leant forward in anticipation, hoping against hope that Harry would materialize out of thin air, as the number of students lessened they hoped they would spot him, but he wasn't there.

The Great Hall erupted in to whispering and many students craned their heads to be the first to finally see the Boy-Who-Lived with their own eyes.

All four Marauders held their breaths as time seemed to be going backwards instead of forwards and then from the back of the group came an impossibly small child. Lily had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming out and gripped on to James' arm to prevent herself from running to her precious baby. Remus let out a stifled growl and suppressed the urge to run up and cuddle the poor battered boy that was making his way up to the top table. James and Sirius stared and stared in disbelief at their son and Godson, he was just over three feet tall, like the papers had claimed, but, after the article, they had prepared for his height, but what they weren't prepared for were the bruises and cuts that marred his small face and his little hand, or the clear black and purple bruises in the shape of fingers around his neck, the unnatural paleness of his skin, the exhausted way he moved or the black rings around his eyes. However, the thing that scared them the most was the blank look that was covering his face, it was a classic I've-been-abused-so-I've-withdrawn-in-to-my-mind-and-I'm-not-coming-back-out look.

When they finally got their thoughts together, Harry had just had the hat placed on to his head by a tearful Minerva, it was then that the Marauders realised that this is why she was acting out of character, she had known, she had seen him and she had known what had happened.

The four looked at each other, Lily had tears streaming down her face, James looked very close to joining her, Remus' eyes were slowly turning colour as his werewolf side battled for dominance and Sirius was clenching his jaw and flexing his fists with tears glistening in his eyes.

They sat and waited in silence for the sorting hat to make its decision; they waited and waited and waited.

Most of the teachers were looking at Dumbledore, who looked like his normal cheerful self, they were all silently asking the same question, what the hell was taking so long?! If this kept up Harry's sorting would take longer than everyone else's put together!

Many students were now either chatting quietly to their neighbour or were sitting and starring at the hat in confusion. Hermione was one of these students, Harry had been the first to accept her, had been the first person to even so much as spare her a second glance let alone talk to her as though she was a human being, she desperately wished that he would join her in Gryffindor and if he didn't that they could remain friends which ever house he went to, she wouldn't be able to stand it if he went to a house like Slytherin and then started hating her because of the house rivalry, or perhaps if he went there and remained the same they would be the first people to break the fabled Gryffindor/Slytherin animosity. Hermione smiled to herself, she'd like that.

* * *

The last thing Harry saw before the hat was dropped on to his head was the staring faces of his peers. Harry desperately wished they would look away he was sick enough as it was without a captive audience.

The hat went straight down to his chin and he was sure that if it had been just a little bit wider it would of went straight down to his shoulders.

The blackness and the cloth pressing against the tip of his nose made his mind jump to the thoughts of a black cloth tied around his face, which made him come to the immediate conclusion of suffocating. It took absolutely every fibre in his body to stop himself from ripping the hat off of his head and running away screaming. He felt his fingers twitching to do just that so he discreetly moved and sat on them.

"Ahh Mister Potter."

Harry almost had a heart attack and if he hadn't of trained himself to keep still in moments of unexpected panic he would of jumped a foot in the air.

"Hmmm yes, you are very difficult to place." the hat carried on.

Harry had the image of Mr Ollivander pop in to his head; he smiled despite himself and was overall glad that the hat covered his mouth as he let out a little giggle. Where Ron reminded him of Forest the hat reminded him of Mr Ollivander.

"A warped sense of humour I see, but a sense of humour none the less. You have been alone for most of your short and poignant life, you have fought your way up from the very depths of hell and battled very deep rooted phobias just to be here today, countless memories of wanting to run away, hmm but you stayed anyway despite what your mind was telling you, you followed your heart, very courageous, such Gryffindor traits. Hmm also very intelligent, oh my yes, such intelligence in such a young boy is un-heard of! So much common sense and knowledge in such a wide range of topics! perhaps Ravenclaw would suit you?

So much talent, patience and unwavering loyalty, maybe Hufflepuff? Hmm wait what's this? Loyal only to your familiars? You haven't made friends yet have you? Why ever not?"

'_I can't get too close to anyone just yet; I still fear people and a mass of people such as the students of this fine school are just slightly overwhelming.' _Harry thought to the hat.

"Hmm, you are still uncomfortable in other people's presence then? Definitely not a Hufflepuff, they would swarm you to make you feel welcome. Hmm, I wonder if you could be a Slytherin, there is a dark evil present in your mind. Let me delve a little deeper."

Harry felt himself shiver despite how warm he was feeling, or perhaps it was due to his fever.

"Ahh definitely an evil lingering in your mind, with the added bonus of having an Ecryption Green, that is currently wrapped around you, as your first familiar and a Dusk Crawler that is in a little bubble in front of you! Why those snakes are positively evil! Once those come to light, no one will question your placement in Slytherin! A Parselmouth as well! Such secrets you're hiding, definitely the makings of a Slytherin." the hat said in relish.

Harry could feel his anger building and bubbling inside of him.

'_I am not evil!' _Harry raged at the hat _'Just because I love Forest and because I saved a Dusk Crawler from predators doesn't mean I'm evil! My snakes are not evil either! Just because most wizards are prejudice! One of the founders of this school was a Parselmouth! I don't care what anyone else thinks or says I'm keeping all of my familiars and I'm going to hold my head high, finish my education and then set out to change this messed up world full of outdated and unfair laws and regulations!' _

Harry was so angry he forgot about being polite and that's when he felt it, the wave of sickness and dizziness, he had worked himself up in to a state by shouting at a hat! Harry felt he could kick himself if he didn't feel so sick. He clenched his toes together and locked his jaw; he would not throw up in the middle of the Great Hall!

"Hmm such venom in your words Potter, I have no doubt that you will change this world for the better, you have a big heart you just need to open it and let other people in. You have no cowardice, nor are you deceitful, but you are sly when you feel the need to be. Perhaps not such a Slytherin after all, that leaves us with Gryffindor or Ravenclaw."

Harry was so tired now he just wanted to slip off of the stool, curl up on the floor and go to sleep, he could feel the sweat, which had momentarily stopped whilst travelling over the Black Lake, dripping down his neck and back and he had no doubt that had the hat not been on his head, absorbing his sweat, his forehead would also be soaked. His robes were sticky with sweat and were uncomfortable; they were clinging to his small frame like a second skin. Harry was now fighting to remain conscious as he felt his body trembling. He felt so dizzy and unwell!

"Maybe you should pay the nurse a visit Potter; you have been unwell for quite an extended period of time."

'_I will don't worry, I was thinking of going tomorrow after classes, I'm sure a teacher will let me know where the nurses office is.'_

"Now, on to you're sorting, Gryffindor or Ravenclaw? Do you have any preferences?"

'_No, I just want to get off this stool so I can place my head on to a nice solid, cool, table, I don't mean to be rude or anything its just I'm not feeling my best, it feels like I've been sitting here for half an hour!'_

"Actually you have been sitting here for forty minutes, your mind is just so interesting, and do not worry, yes I am completely confidential."

Harry was sure the hat chuckled as he blushed, but really, forty minutes sitting on a hard and uncomfortable wooden stool was enough!

"I agree whole heartedly with you Mister Potter, Dumbledore will undoubtedly give me a thrashing when he gets me back to his office for taking so long with you, but your mind has so many levels, so many deep fears and so, so many dark secrets, have you ever thought about Occlumency? It would undoubtedly help you to organize your mind and memories, I have no doubt in my mind that you would be able to do it if you focus on it enough and I believe the potions master Severus Snape would be able to help you, he is a very accomplished Occlumens."

'_I don't believe I have ever heard of Occlumency before, before I ask Professor Snape, I'm going to read up on it a bit, I have to show I'm prepared after all. Perhaps I can ask Hermione if she will be willing to help me look, she seems like a very bright witch.'_

"Hermione? Are you by any chance referring to Miss Granger? The one I sorted in to Gryffindor? Hmm, ah yes a very basic friendship, nothing solid or substantial yet, but with proper attentiveness can be formed in to a very happy and healthy friendship, yes I believe I have found your house Mister Potter welcome to…GRYFFINDOR!"

'_Thank you for taking the time to sort me' _Harry thought to the hat before it was whisked off of his head and he was brought back to the Great Hall.

Every one was deathly silent and they were all staring at him! Harry felt incredibly sick and weak, but nether the less he stood up defiantly and strode to the house he knew was the Gryffindor house table, he sat down next to Hermione, before a tidal wave of noise began ringing throughout the hall, every Gryffindor were on their feet cheering for him, the Weasley twins shook his hands enthusiastically whilst exclaiming 'They knew he had it in him.' He was feeling incredibly overwhelmed, after five minutes of non stop noise, it died down and Harry was allowed to shove his head on to his arms that he had crossed on the table, he was right the table was incredibly cool, it was ruined however by the searing heat and sweat coming from his forehead and arms.

"Harry are you okay?" Hermione whispered to him as Tara Rodgerstone became a Ravenclaw.

"Yeh I'm okay, but that hat kept me there for a long time and that stool isn't exactly the definition of comfort now is it?"

Hermione giggled and placed her hand over her mouth.

"I know what you mean." she squealed "I was only there for a few minutes and my bottom got sore!"

That comment made Harry himself giggle in to his arms, god he felt so sick and tired, he just wished this day would end already!

Harry must have dozed off because the next thing he knew was Hermione was poking him in the ribs.

"Come on Harry wake up! Ron's being sorted!" she hissed in his ear.

Harry's head shot up like a cork from a wine bottle, he looked around groggily before his eyes rested on Ron's decidedly green face.

Hermione giggled and Harry turned his disorientated head to face her.

"Something you wish to share with the class Miss Granger?" he asked in a way so reminiscent of a strict teacher Hermione had to shove her whole hand in her mouth to keep herself from making a sound.

"I thought not." he smiled gently at her and turned around just in time to hear the hat shout out:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron joined them a few moments later, his green face replaced with red as his brothers congratulated him.

Harry and Hermione congratulated him as well and he grinned happily at the both of them, Harry smiled weakly back then rested his head back down on to his small arms and Hermione full out beamed at him now that he wasn't being so hostile towards her.

The Headmaster stood up and said some words, his eyes landed on Harry, whose back was to the top table, so he didn't notice, but Hermione and Ron did notice and turned to look at their impossibly small friend.

Hermione shoved her elbow in to his ribs again just as the Headmaster sat back down.

He turned to face her and whilst she rolled her eyes, Harry saw just beyond her the head table full of teachers. He saw Hagrid who, when he saw Harry looking at him, beamed at him.

Harry felt bemused, it was like the story he had read when he was four, the B.F.G, the big friendly giant, and Harry giggled to himself, very hard and loudly.

Everyone in the vicinity looked at Harry as if he was some sort of medical project gone wrong, everyone except Ron and Hermione.

"And what, may I ask, is so funny young man?!" demanded Hermione in an amused voice, cutting up the food that had just appeared on the tables.

Harry looked her in the eyes a small smile on his face.

"Is it just me or does Hagrid remind you of the B.F.G?"

Hermione looked at the teachers table and found Hagrid waving enthusiastically to the Weasley twins a huge smile crinkling his face, then she burst out laughing, gripping her sides in mirth.

"Oh, oh good god, you're, you're right!" she gasped out in between breaths.

Ron looked at the all as if they had lost their minds, so Harry explained to him about the story of the B.F.G, at the end of which Ron was laughing even harder than Hermione.

"Oh Merlin I never would of thought of it like that before! Ha ha oh that has to be the best way to sum Hagrid up, ever!" Ron cried out in happiness.

Harry let out a little bubble of happiness, he was finding himself growing attached to Ron and Hermione, but he still felt uncomfortable with all these other people around, people who were staring at him every other second none the less and he still wasn't comfortable with Hermione poking him in the ribs every couple of minutes. Not only was she becoming dangerously close to touching Forest but it was also putting him on edge.

"Why aren't you eating anything Harry?" Hermione asked as she swallowed her bite of ham.

"I'm not hungry, I don't feel up to eating anything I just want to go to sleep!" as if to prove his point Harry let out a jaw breaking yawn, he had never stayed up this late, ever! It was already past eleven! He was normally tucked up in bed well in to his dreams by this time.

"Couldn't you even manage a little bit of food?" Hermione persisted.

Harry shook his head no, as he yawned again, he rubbed his head against his arms to get comfortable, whilst unintentionally being reminiscent of a cold kitten attempting to get warm.

After a while, but what seemed like a lifetime to Harry, the puddings finally vanished. Harry was looking forward to getting up to bed, but realised with a stifled groan that the Headmaster was addressing them again.

Harry didn't listen to anything he said, it was very rude and very unlike him, but Harry was just so tired, it was now nearing midnight and Harry would be up in five and a half hours time! He felt his eyes burning and itching with tiredness. He let out another yawn; he couldn't go five minutes without yawning at least twice!

Benches scraped around him and he realised that they had been dismissed, he stood up and suddenly wished he hadn't as he swayed dangerously, he immediately sat back down, Hermione and Ron who noticed this pulled Harry to his feet and discreetly escorted him from the hall, up the many stairs and down the innumerable corridors.

Harry was seriously contemplating dropping dead and just sleeping the night away on the floor, Forest was now bunched up about his shoulders in a very uncomfortable position and Harry could tell the snake was incredibly annoyed. Harry let out a small smile, if it was a choice between having an uncomfortable and annoyed familiar or spending the night on the cold, hard, stone floors of Hogwarts, he'd choose the former at the moment, he was immensely glad for Ron and Hermione, even if Forest wasn't.

After a very long trek through the castle up to one of the many towers on the seventh floor, Harry found his dormitory and without waiting to be told twice, he crawled in to his bed without changing and was instantly asleep still wrapped up in Forest.

* * *

The Marauders hadn't taken their eyes off of Harry, they had been so stunned and incredibly happy when he had been placed in to Gryffindor that they had forgot to clap, but when they heard the first few people clapping they had joined in with zeal! Their baby boy had made it in to Gryffindor! It had taken him almost an hour to get there though! They'd have to ask him why it had taken so long when they got the chance to talk to him.

They watched in confusion as he sat down next to a bushy haired girl and lay down his head in his arms, they were also watching as he seemed to have fallen asleep! Sirius was silently laughing at him, James and Remus both elbowed his arms, he turned to both of them and then he started grumbling.

The Marauders were also watching Harry when Ronald Weasley was called, the bushy haired girl next to him started whispering to him and then elbowed him in the ribs, he opened his eyes and turned to her, she whispered something else and his head shot up from the table as though scalded.

He watched in rapt attention as Ron Weasley was sorted in to Gryffindor, although he seemed to be whispering to the girl as his mouth was moving and she suddenly burst out laughing whilst Harry had a small smile on his face. He cheered along with the rest of his house when Ron joined them, but the moment it quietened down again, he rested his head against his arms yet again. It looked like he was incredibly ill! None of them could accept that thought though, their baby couldn't be sick on top of everything else, he just couldn't!

Albus got up to say his little tidbit, but he looked directly at Harry whilst he was talking; the Marauders looked and saw that Harry wasn't even facing the Headmaster! The bushy haired girl had noticed though and once again poked his ribs, he turned around just as Albus had sat down, but he seemed to be looking at someone else at the head table as his face suddenly lit up and he started laughing hysterically. The girl said something and he obviously answered because she looked up at the teachers table and burst out laughing herself. The Marauders were bemused! They leaned forward and looked to where they were now showing Ron, all they saw was Hagrid being his usual cheery self. This was obviously another thing to add to the ever-growing list of questions for Harry.

The Marauders were all happily eating their food and occasionally looked up at Harry, when Lily pointed out something they had over looked.

"Why isn't Harry eating anything?" She asked in concern.

The three men immediately looked up and saw that Harry didn't even have a plate in front of him he was just laying down still.

"I…uh…maybe…maybe he's not hungry?" James ventured.

"He has to be hungry! He probably hasn't eaten since breakfast and by the looks of my poor baby he missed breakfast as well!" Lily raged. Half in anger at people who could do this to her beloved baby and half in sadness that her baby wasn't eating even though there was food right in front of him.

After the feast the Marauders watched Harry carefully, he looked knackered! He was yawning every few minutes and Ron or the girl next to him had to keep poking him to keep him awake or in the case that he had actually fallen asleep, they jabbed him to which he would jerk awake violently and glare at them.

One thing was certain to all four of them, he didn't like people hitting him, his violent reaction to the jabs was enough evidence of that and the Marauders felt their hearts clench as they thought about the violence he would have had to have gone through in order to have such an extreme reaction. They didn't know how wrong they were, it wasn't just punches and jabs that caused Harry to have such extreme reactions, it was any touch from another person! He had just grown used to Ron and Hermione's pokes to pay them much heed.

Albus stood up and began his start of term notices, to which Harry paid no attention to. The Marauders had the impression that he wasn't doing it to be rude or disrespectful, but because he was over tired and couldn't keep himself alert enough to listen.

When Albus had dismissed the children, the Marauders watched as Harry stood up and swayed dangerously, Lily gasped but Harry had sat back down before he fell over. Ron and the girl, that Lily had told them was named Hermione, picked him up gently and then supported him out of the Great Hall and up to Gryffindor common room.

It was then that the Marauders realised that Albus was meant to keep him behind in order to introduce them!

"Albus!" yelled James. "What happened to keeping him behind?!"

"I'm so sorry my dear boy, but I thought Harry could do with some sleep, he looked dead on his feet, the poor lad."

James couldn't do anything but agree with him, Harry really did look like he could use the sleep, especially since he had to be up at eight in the morning tomorrow for his first day of classes.

James sighed and pulled Lily in to a one armed hug.

"I guess we have to wait until tomorrow to meet our baby then?" he said to no one in particular.

It just happened to be Sirius who answered. "All that preparation for nothing." he let out a laugh like a bark, that he was famous for.

James was spared from answering him by a very loud slap that echoed around the Great Hall. Lily had beaten him to it; he smiled ruefully at Sirius before pulling his wife in to a big hug.

"Soon Lily love, very soon we will have our baby back with us."

With that, the Marauders headed up to their private rooms and fell in to their own separate nightmares of Harry being strangled, starved and beaten by unknown enemies.

--

Chapter Five for you, as you can obviously see Gryffindor won the votes, it was very close though, only four points divided Gryffindor from Ravenclaw.

Many of you have exclaimed confusion over Harry's actions, I shall stress it again, Harry is not 'weak' he is just a little sensitive which is completely natural after living in isolation.

Harry didn't fight back against Malfoy as he was caught off guard and wasn't expecting it, he didn't cast any magic as he was feeling too weak and sick to do so, he had already apparated and cast three charms, transfigured his clothes and conjured a belt. He was feeling drained which is why he didn't use magic to solve the fight.

As for his height, weight, sickness you will find out about that soon enough, just bear with me whilst I get this story on a firm track.

The Marauders will find out that Harry has been living in Godric's Hollow, look out for their reactions, also you will find out about Harry's 'carer' I shall say it again, she is an important character in the sense that she made Harry what he is today and yes that is a very bad thing.

Chapter Six will be up soon and remember don't be afraid to ask questions. StarLight Massacre. X


	7. First Day of Hell Uhh Classes

**Please read, it's important**

A/N: I have received a lot of 'complaints' from almost everyone reading this fic about my last chapter, so I shall clear the problem up right now. Lily, the Marauders or any of the staff, did NOT immediately run to Harry when they first saw him because imagine if you're Harry and a bunch of people you don't know suddenly run towards you? You'd freak out and Harry being Harry with all of his phobias would probably die from a heart attack.

The Marauders are not stupid, they know Harry's extremely weary of other people, it was in the Daily Prophet, plus they don't even know if Harry knows who they are! There was also the fact that he was on his way to get sorted, they didn't want to interrupt his own sorting just to mollycoddle him when he doesn't know them (or that's what they think anyway).

They want to do things right and approach him gradually, not scare the living daylights out of him the moment he steps in to the castle! Yes he was injured and badly, that is why they exercised restraint and kept themselves firmly in place, Harry was able to walk…sort of, so they thought it would be best to leave it until after the feast, but Dumbledore, as explained in the last chapter, saw that Harry could barely keep his eyes open, he decided to wait until the next day to take Harry to the hospital wing, maybe it wasn't one of his best decisions but he was thinking of Harry, the Marauders didn't agree to this, but they saw where he was coming from.

Harry did not notice his parents or his 'uncles' sitting at the table, the only time he looked at the table was when he saw Hagrid.

As always any questions you have, I'm willing to answer, but bulk questions like this one will be answered in the same way as this one, that way my fingers wont cramp writing the same answer over and over again. X

Chapter Six - The First Day of Hell…Uhh Classes.

Harry woke up at exactly five thirty, it took him a few moments to recognize the room he was in and when he did, he broke in to a wide smile. He couldn't believe he had stuck it out and actually gotten to Hogwarts!

He threw the covers off of himself and looked at his body; he was wearing yesterday's clothes! Damn the consequences of staying up too late! He giggled lightly to himself, he threw the robe off of himself, he wasn't going to class for another three and a half hours, why be uncomfortable during that time? So smoothing out his bright green tee-shirt and dusting off his black jeans he put his trainers back on his feet, noiselessly took one of the books he had been studying out of his trunk and walked out of his dorm room to find the kitchens, as quietly as possible.

Forest was wrapped innumerable times around his stomach like a very weird, very thick, dark green belt and his new powder blue snake was currently _**still**_ sleeping, in the palm of his left hand.

Harry quietly made it down to the entrance hall, but from there he was stuck, he didn't know where to go from here.

"_Use your brain child." _Forest hissed at him.

Harry looked down at his stomach and nodded his understanding to his first familiar.

House-elves were incredibly proud of their jobs, they would be somewhere quiet and out of the way, where no one would see them and no one would get in the way of their work.

There were four doors in the entrance hall, one led to the outside, obviously not that door, one led to the Great Hall, again definitely not, another led to the dungeons, possible, but too many people went that way day after day for the house elves to do their work sufficiently, the only option that made sense was the door that led down to a deserted passageway.

Harry took off down this passageway, he made a mental note to remember all of the turns he took, he didn't want to get lost now did he? He had been walking for a few minutes when he came upon a split in the passageways, one looked dull and gloomy and the other was exactly the same.

'There must be something I'm missing' Harry thought to himself.

He turned and studied both passageways, both of them had pictures of food on them, so Harry knew he was on the right track, but which one was the way to the kitchens? And that's when he saw it and felt himself smile; a picture of a badger was hanging on the wall in the right passageway.

"The Hufflepuff dormitories." he whispered out loud. "So that means…" Harry let his sentence hang and turned to the left passageway.

He slowly made his way down the left passageway, he was feeling somewhat unwell, but he was hungry and he wanted to check out his new snake.

'I've had it for a whole day and I ignored it! What sort of person am I? And it was injured!' Harry remembered with a jolt.

"_Forest you seem to know these passages better than I do, where are the kitchens?!" _he asked in urgency, if his new snake had died because he hadn't looked after it he would never forgive himself.

"_I have one hint for you Master, tickle the pear."_

Harry stared incredulously at his familiar.

"_What sort of help is that?!" _Harry hissed back in annoyance.

Forest declined to answer, so Harry sighing with exasperation, continued down the corridor thinking of Forests advice.

'Tickle the pear. Tickle the pear. Tickle the pear.'

Still looking everywhere, he could for a pear Harry became agitated, a feat that very seldom happened. Harry knew it was probably because of the fever and sickness, or it could have been from the lack of sleep, or quite possibly both, he didn't know anymore.

Then an incredible feeling of elation covered him, almost suffocating him, it was not unlike the feeling just before he received his Hogwarts letter.

Harry looked about him for the source of unexplained jubilation when he turned to look at the wall he was looking directly at a large bowl of fruit; Harry felt his face split in to two.

Harry reached out and ran his little fingers over the pear in the bowl. It let out a giggle, not unlike Harry's own and turned in to a green doorknob. Harry smiled to himself whilst turning the newly formed handle.

He stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind him, but before he could fully turn around again he was assaulted by many, many little creatures. Harry, so unused to such shows of affection, squealed and whimpered.

Harry felt Forest tighten his grip on his stomach, reminding him that he was there and was ready to strike on command. Harry run his fingers gently over Forest's head to warn him not to make a snack out of the poor house elves.

That reminded him, bringing his attention back to the small creatures, Harry realised that they had pulled back from him with guilty expressions on their faces when he had whimpered.

Seeing their looks of guilt and horror, Harry remembered reading that a house elf had urges to injured and punish themselves if they felt they had offended their masters and quickly realising that this is what these house elves were going to do, he rushed to reassure them.

"I'm sorry I cried out at you all, you just startled me that's all, no harm done."

"Young master is not hurt by us?" one with brilliant brown eyes spoke up timidly.

Harry smiled a little. "No not at all, I am just unused to people touching me and it surprised me." he replied kindly, keeping his voice light and pleasant.

All the house elves were nearly in tears and his show of kindness and Harry rather thought he'd be the same if someone showed him an ounce of love as well, he had a sudden flash back of his 'carer' and he grew morbid, he didn't want to think of _her_ right about now.

"Is young master alright?" squeaked a little female with bright blue eyes from the front of the group.

Harry lightly shook his head to clear the fuzzy thoughts and plastered a smile to his face. "Yeh, I'm fine, thanks for asking…"

"Dotty sir." she beamed at him.

"Thank you Dotty." he inclined his head politely to her.

Dotty and quite a few others squealed in delight and Harry shook his head sadly.

"Was young master needing anything sir?" asked another house elf, male this time, looking hopefully for kind treatment as well.

Harry felt himself get angry, he thought the people in the books were exaggerating when they spoke of house elves, but now he could see they had been very accurate. Harry came out of his angry thoughts and realised why he had come down here in the first place.

"Umm, yeh, I was wondering if I could have something to eat, if it's not too much trouble to you that is." he said meekly to the over excited house elves.

They all squealed and he felt himself being dragged to a table in one of the corners of the room. He was sat down for a few seconds before a huge platter of food made its way in front of him.

"Thank you all very much; this is very kind of you."

All the house elves blushed and squealed in delight at him, Harry shook his head and after eating a little bit of the food he started examining his new baby snake, it was absolutely gorgeous, it was a light powder blue colour, but on closer inspection had baby blue swirls covering its length. There wasn't much else he could tell about the tiny snake other than it had a bloodied wound in its side. Harry remembering that it had been injured immediately felt his eyes widen in horror at forgetting and he clicked his fingers a couple of times and on the table in front of him appeared a couple of baby cotton buds, a glass of water and a vial of antiseptic potion.

He took one of the cue tips in his stubby, little fingers and dipped it in to the water, he then proceeded to gently stroke the side of his new snake until there was no blood left only a half healed wound.

Harry inspected it closely and saw that something was stuck in the wound, surprised Harry conjured a small pair of tweezers and carefully gripped the offending item, then very slowly and gently Harry pulled it out of the baby snake.

Harry sighed with relief when he felt the snake move a bit on his palm. He looked at the item he had removed and felt his mouth drop in surprise and astonishment; it was a small piece of broken glass! It wasn't a predator that had gotten the snake! It had fallen victim to litter! Harry felt overwhelming rage at people who dropped their rubbish on to streets, endangering other people and destroying animals' habitats. How did people live with themselves?!

Reigning in his anger Harry dipped a new cue tip in to the antiseptic potion and hissing encouragement to the baby snake, just in case it was awake and afraid of what he was doing, Harry again stroked the wound with feather light brushes.

He heard the little snake hiss slightly in contentment and felt himself smile, the glass had obviously caused it pain and discomfort.

"_There we go little one."_ he hissed. _"Not much longer now and then you will be completely healed and free from pain and discomfort, don't worry, I'll look after you, I'll always look after you."_

Little did Harry know that the baby snake was awake and was drawing comfort from his tender hands and his soft, reassuring words, never before had any of the Dusk Crawlers been treated like this, in fact inside every Dusk Crawler was an instinct to bite, harm and kill any human it came upon, but the baby snake couldn't bring itself to harm the one that was helping it, the one who was so tender, so comforting. One who was helping it after its injury, nether the less one who could speak the language of the snake! A superior to all snakes, the one who was human but could converse with all serpents was a very rare and very unusual combination. Thus making the boy who was helping a Dusk Crawler its new Master, it already owed the boy a life debt for saving its life and helping it at the ending of its life. Perhaps if the boy would consent to having a Dusk Crawler as a familiar it wouldn't be so alone anymore. Yes, the least it could do was try.

"_There we go little one, all fixed, now we'll just keep an eye on that little cut of yours to see if it will get infected still or not, but I don't think it will, you're a little fighter aren't you? You can get over this unfortunate start in life and grow up big and strong."_

Harry placed the little snake down and began eating the rest of his breakfast with a gusto, but of course still with impeccable table manners.

A while later Harry leant back in his chair and sighed in contentment.

"Now that's what I call a breakfast!" he said out loud and with passion, much to the house elves enjoyment, it wasn't very often that someone praised their cooking so heartily in front of them.

"Is young Master needing anything else sir?" a male house elf spoke up after his plate was whisked away.

"No thank you…"

"Crinkle sir." he squealed.

"No thanks Crinkle, I've eaten more than my fill, it was delicious thank you, all of you."

All the house elves screeched with delight and started doing their work with more vigor than before; Harry giggled and settled down quietly to read his law book.

Nearly an hour later Harry was roused from his studies by a playful nip on his little finger, he started and dropped his book before looking directly in to ice blue eyes.

Harry squealed in joy as he took in the sight of his new baby snake for the first time.

"_Hi, my name's Harry, are you feeling any better?" _he hissed softly to the hatchling.

"_Yes, I am feeling much better thanks to you're expert healing and care." _It hissed back

Harry took immense pleasure in the fact that his new baby snake was in fact female and blushed at her praise.

"_I'm not really an expert on the subject of healing, but I've read a few books on animal care that definitely came in handy, what is your name little one?"_

"_I do not yet have a name." _came the gentle reply.

"_Would you like one?" _Harry asked shyly.

"_Indeed I would."_

Harry sat and thought for a little while carefully examining the little hatchling in front of him, before he was drawn by her eyes, those amazing eyes, just like Forests, unusual in colour but amazingly mesmerizing. Harry then strayed off task a little bit by wondering if all magical snakes had unusual eye colours, before he snapped his head up and smiled almost cautiously to the little snake.

"_How do you like Ice?"_

"_I like it a lot Master."_

Harry furrowed his eyebrows, why did this snake call him master? He wasn't her master.

"_Why are you calling me master Ice?"_ he asked her gently.

"_You saved me from death child, inside every one of my kind is an instinct to hurt every and all humans as they would do the same to us, you have proved that instinct wrong, you helped me when my death was inevitable, for that I offer myself to you as your familiar."_

"_Really? Are you sure you want to be my familiar?"_

Harry was incredibly excited at having this snake as a familiar, she was stunning and she'd make a great friend.

"_Of course child, you are a worthy Master."_

Harry smiled and started stroking her; he then had a sudden thought and acted upon it. He picked Ice up in to his hands and then brought her down to his navel.

"_Ice this is my first familiar Forest, Forest this is Ice."_

"_Ah the baby Dusk Crawler has awoken I see." _came Forest's drowsy reply, informing Harry that his first familiar had been sleeping.

"_Forest please be nice to her."_

"_As you wish Master."_

Both of Harry's snake familiars slipped in to an easy conversation and Harry started reading his law book yet again.

Harry was pulled out of his reading by a series of tugs on his sleeve.

"Young Master?"

Harry looked down and saw Dotty looking up at him with a frightened expression on her face.

"Yes Dotty what is it?" he asked her kindly.

"Dotty has sirs' timetable." she squeaked holding out a piece of parchment to Harry.

Harry smiled at her. "Thank you Dotty, it was very kind of you to bring this to me."

"It was no problem sir, Dotty lives to serve and please young Master." with that she left beaming.

Harry smiled fondly after her before he looked down at his timetable, yesterday was the first of September and if Harry remembered correctly it was a Monday, so that meant that today was a Tuesday, he scanned his timetable for Tuesday and felt himself beaming, he had three of his most favourite subjects today, he had double Defence Against the Dark Arts first, then Transfiguration and lastly double Potions.

Harry couldn't have asked for a better first day. He looked at his watch and felt his jaw drop if he didn't leave now he'd be late! The defence classroom was on the third floor!

"Oh, damn it!"

"Is something wrong young Master? Anything Crinkle can help with?"

"I'm late for lessons and I haven't got a robe to wear or my books or bag or anything!"

Harry was panic stricken; he was hyperventilating and nearing tears.

"_Master! Calm yourself this instant!" _Forest hissed furiously at his master.

"_Elder Forest is right Master, you can not think straight if you are panicking."_

Harry got his breathing under control just as Crinkle popped back in to the kitchens, Harry's book bag in one hand and one of his robes in the other.

"Oh thank you Crinkle, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Harry called to the teary house elf as he pulled the robe over his head grabbed his bag and his familiars and ran out of the kitchens. "Thanks for breakfast!" he yelled over his shoulder as the portrait shut behind him and Harry made a wild dash to get to classes on time.

He made it with a few minutes to spare and spent those minutes leaning against the wall with unfocused eyes, flushed cheeks and a bubbling sensation in his stomach.

'Please don't throw up, please don't throw up, please don't throw up.' Harry chanted in his mind, ignoring the looks he was getting from his classmates at the end of the queue.

He had just gotten his breathing back under control when the classroom door was opened and a funny looking man wearing a purple turban ushered them inside.

* * *

That morning the Marauders were all up unusually early, the arrival of Harry and in such poor health none the less, was upsetting them all, the nightmares had come through out the night making them all grumpy and irritable that morning.

They barely said a word to each other as they sat down to breakfast, but after ten minutes they had revived a bit over a delicious breakfast and copious amounts of coffee.

This revival was short lived. As the end of breakfast approached, there was no sign of their baby Harry anywhere; they had scanned the Gryffindor house table so often they had memorized the faces of the students that were at the table.

They were worried, Harry had looked awful last night what if he was really sick somewhere? Or lost in the castle?! He was too small to be lost on his own in the castle!

"Where is he?" Lily finally voiced her fears as classes were to start in just five minutes.

"Perhaps he wasn't hungry?"

"Don't be so daft Black!" Lily snapped in rage. "He didn't eat anything at all yesterday! He has to be hungry today!"

Sirius quickly held his hands up in surrender, an angry Lily Potter was as dangerous and deadly as an enraged nesting, mother dragon.

"Don't worry too much Lily, I'll look for him after breakfast and make sure he didn't get lost and if I find him, I'll take him straight to the hospital wing to get him checked out."

"Thank you James."

Lily hugged her husband tightly and over her head James winked at a grinning Sirius and Remus. After breakfast the Marauders split up and went to scour the castle in search of Harry, just in case he had gotten lost.

James and Sirius took the fourth to seventh floors, whilst Lily and Remus took the first to third floors and the dungeons.

They arranged to meet up at lunch and with that said goodbye to each other.

* * *

Hermione had drawn the short straw and was sitting next to Ron Weasley, both of them had wanted to sit next to Harry and had ended up arguing, but in the end Harry had gotten fed up and had sat down next to a boy named Neville Longbottom instead, leaving the two of them to take the two remaining seats next to each other.

Ron still hadn't accepted her one hundred per cent and now blamed her for Harry not speaking to him, but the silly boy just didn't realise that Harry hadn't said anything at all to either of them since he had come through the door! Not to mention the fact that their teacher was talking to them so they couldnt talk anyway! In fact it looked like Harry was whispering to his backpack! Maybe Harry was more shaken up over yesterday than she had first thought. Perhaps she should take him to the hospital wing during lunch? But no he hadn't shown up for breakfast and hadn't eaten anything at dinner last night. He needed to have something for lunch at least! So perhaps after dinner tonight, yes she would take him after dinner. Wrenching her thoughts away from Harry she listened to Professor Quirrell. She knew everything about what he was talking about, even if it did sound like gibberish to everyone else, really what did it take to use a brain and actually concentrate on what was being said? Ron for instance was glassy eyed, drooling and staring out of the window! A boy named Seamus Finnegan was actually dozing off! It was nine in the morning?! They had only just woken up for gods sake!

Their teacher was now asking questions, but Hermione true to her vows never raised her hand for any of them, even though she knew all of the answers to the simple questions.

* * *

Harry was, to put it very bluntly, annoyed. His body was aching, his head was pounding, his stomach was churning and his lungs and chest burned. And just to top it all off Ron and Hermione were arguing over who sat next to him! They didn't even bother to ask him if he even wanted to sit next to either of them. After two minutes of this he got thoroughly ticked off, he turned his back on them and sat next to a shy and quiet boy named Neville Longbottom.

Neville had greeted him kindly and Harry had done the same.

Harry could still hear Ron and Hermione bickering like no tomorrow behind him. Neville was staring at the professor as though he had grown an extra head, which, by the way his turban made his head look, he had. Honestly it wasn't that hard to understand their professor, Harry could even predict what the man was going to say next! As a result he was incredibly bored, what was the point in learning what he already knew? He would have been better off staying down in the kitchens with the house elves, his familiars and his law book!

As the lesson progressed, Harry became even more irritated and bored; it was obvious that his professor was so scared of his own subject he couldn't even speak about it without stuttering! And that was really grating on Harry's nerves, was it so much to ask to actually get a competent teacher that wasnt afraid of the subject they taught? So instead of sitting there with a sappy smile on his face hanging off of his every word, like Hermione, Harry was conversing softly with his familiars, whom he had shoved in to his backpack on their request. Neville was so out of it he didn't notice Harry's inane hissing to his own backpack, if he did he would probably either run a mile and never go near him again or call St Mungos and have him committed.

"D-d-does anyo-o-one know the an-answer?"

Harry looked up at his stuttering and rambling teacher, he thought back to the question, what is the name of the shield charm? Well duh! Come on there were several hundred shield charms out there! Why couldn't he of been more specific? Like the strongest shield charm? The easiest to cast? The longest lasting? Or even the shield charm with the pretty blue tint to it?!

Harry sighed and thought he might as well help out his desperate looking professor and raised his hand.

"Ye-yes Mis-Mis-Mister Potter?" his teacher stuttered in relief that someone was finally answering one of his questions.

"Well sir, there are a number of different answers to your question, you really should have been more specific, but I think the answer you're looking for is the _Protego _shield charm. The easiest to cast and maintain, used to block minor to moderate charms, jinxes, hexes and curses, but will not help against the darker curses, in which case a stronger charm or ward should be erected or if that isn't possible, dodging and ducking would be the next best option, but too much of that will leave you tired and more open to said, darker curses, so it would be beneficial to learn the stronger shields as soon as possible."

When Harry finished talking he lowered his eyes and started scribbling on a piece of paper, unaware that everyone was staring at him with slack jaws and popping eyes, even Professor Quirrell.

After a few stunned moments the professor seemed to pull himself together.

"Umm, ye-yes correct Mis-Mister Potter, twenty poi-points to Gryff-Gryffindor."

The bell rang an hour later and Harry couldn't of been more relieved, he couldn't stand his professors stuttering and was seriously glad he only had a double period once a week.

He was not having a good day either, he felt severely annoyed for no particular reason, this was unusual for him as he was normally mild mannered and shy, he didn't snap and think horrible thoughts about people. Putting it down as lack of sleep Harry went to break flanked by Ron and Hermione. And that's when the trouble started.

"When did you become so smart?!" Ron demanded of him.

Harry felt his eyebrows raise to his hairline. Who the hell was Ron to exclaim such a point?! He hadn't even known Harry for twenty four hours!

"What are you some kind of bookworm? Did you actually read the set books before coming here thinking you could show off or something?"

Harry felt hurt make its way to the surface of his emotions, Harry had never felt this hurt before, sure after his 'carer' abandoned him he was hurt, but he was too young then to fully register that hurt, now it felt as if he had been betrayed.

He ducked his head unshed tears sparkling in his eyes; he took a deep breath and then ran as fast as the crowd of people would allow him.

He stopped outside the Transfiguration classroom and then thinking nothing of going in ten minutes early opened the door and sat down at the front of the classroom.

* * *

Hermione couldn't believe it when Harry had answered that question; he knew more than she did! He had answered the simple question and then added more than she thought her brain could handle, she wrote down everything Harry had said on her notes parchment and then looked back at him, he had his head down and was just scribbling random words on his parchment like nothing out of the ordinary had happened!

For her part Hermione was ecstatic! If Harry was this intelligent she would be able to be herself! She would be able to answer the teachers questions! Be able to do the best she could and what's more she would be able to have an intelligent conversation with someone her own age! Not her parents, not her teachers but someone her own age! And it was a boy! She never thought she'd see the day when she would be able to hold and intellectual conversation with a boy!

When the bell rang Hermione couldn't wait to actually talk to Harry and show him that he wasn't alone, that she wasn't as stupid as she had made herself out to be and then explain why she had deliberatly dulled herself down, but Ron had gotten there first and she realised that she was right to hide herself away at first, the hostility and jealousy that laced the redheads voice was almost tangible.

Hermione saw the hurt on Harry's face before he ducked his head and was about to say something reassuring to him and something mean to Ron about hurting his feelings when Harry dashed off through the corridors and out of sight.

Hermione rounded on Ron who was looking surprised.

"How could you?!" she screeched. "Harry is supposed to be your friend! If that's how you treat your friends then you can jolly well stay on your own without any!"

With that said Hermione stalked away in the general direction Harry ran in, but it was impossible to know exactly where he went, with a few minutes left until the end of break Hermione gave up and started walking to the Transfiguration classroom for her next lesson.

* * *

Minerva McGonagall was incredibly surprised to walk in to her classroom and find a sobbing boy in one of the front row seats. The carbon-black messy hair and tiny frame could only belong to one person, Harry James Potter, and by the looks of things he wasn't having a very good first day.

Minerva did the one thing she had wanted to do since she had first saw him in the entrance hall, she approached him and sat down next to him, he turned to look at her with big, beautiful eyes and sniffled a few more times before giving her his full attention.

Minerva noted with disdain that he had placed on a mask that was hiding his true emotions and it scared her to no end, knowing that an eleven year old knew how to mask their feelings so well.

"What is the matter Mister Potter?" she asked gently.

"No-nothing." he hiccupped cutely.

"Please Harry, I am your head of house, surely if something is bothering you or upsetting you, you can tell me."

Minerva desperately wanted to just bundle him up and cuddle him until he stopped crying, but the poor boy didn't even know her yet, it wasn't an option, she'd just have to settle for words and verbal reassurance, for now at least. She came out of her thoughts and looked at the little boy next to her, he was softly biting his lower lip and looked so cute she could have cooed, and cooing was definitely not one of Minerva McGonagall's traits.

"Its…its just one of the other boys, he said some nasty things to me, I shouldn't of gotten this upset, but I can't seem to be able to control my emotions at the moment, I've never had to in the past and it's just hard."

Minerva felt her heart ache, here was a little boy who showed so many signs of abuse it was cruel and he thought he had to control and lock away his own emotions!

"No Harry, you don't need to control your emotions, you should let them out, keeping them bottled up is one of the most damaging things you can do. I'll tell you what, if you ever need to let your emotions out just come to my office or this classroom, at anytime, day or night and I'll help you through them and comfort you when it's needed."

Minerva wondered where that speech had come from but when she saw the beginnings of a smile on Harry's face she decided she didn't care and that it was worth it just to see this adorable little boy smile.

"Thank you Professor." he said in a soft and quiet tone, and then added almost inaudibly "It's nice to know someone actually cares."

Minerva was shocked, she knew by all rights she wasn't meant to hear the last part, but part of being an Animagus was that after an extended time being one you tended to pick up on the animals traits, and being a cat Animagus gave the wise old witch enhanced hearing. She was now stuck between two options pretend not to have heard the last part as was intended or call the boy up on the comment and possibly make him distraught. Minerva decided on the former as class was about to start in a few minutes anyway.

"That's quite alright Harry, anything you need you just ask me for it."

Harry nodded his head at her and then sat in silence, whilst Minerva started setting everything up for her lesson.

* * *

Harry was feeling much better after the talk to Professor McGonagall, she was a very nice teacher and he decided he liked her; she was very kind, but also smart and strict, the sort of woman who would keep people in line, but in a kind way.

When the bell finally rang Harry had no tears left on his face and a gentle smile playing on his lips, today was getting better, he just hoped his good mood lasted through Potions and then through the rest of the day.

Hermione came through the door when the bell rang and when she saw Harry she immediately sat beside him, Harry glanced at her then ducked his head away from her.

"Harry?" she spoke to him softly. "Harry, what Ron said to you was nasty and uncalled for, you shouldn't listen to him, he was being a jerk."

Harry felt himself smile and he looked back at Hermione whose face broke in to a smile when she saw Harry was smiling again.

"Thanks Hermione." he whispered.

They never got a chance to talk to each other after that because Professor McGonagall started talking about the dangers of Transfiguration.

Harry blanked her out, but made it appear as though he was listening because he wanted to please his professor.

Harry jerked out of his thoughts a while later to an elbow to his ribs, he gasped, started and faced Hermione.

"Harry we have to change our matches in to needles now, weren't you listening?" she hissed to him.

Harry looked around and saw that his classmates were indeed attempting and failing miserably to change their matches in to needles.

"Thanks Hermione, I was in my own little world for a moment there."

Hermione smiled and nodded, but never looked at him, instead she concentrated on her match waving her wand repeatedly, Harry felt himself sigh, she was concentrating too hard on the technique of her wand and not enough on her magic.

Harry grabbed his matchbox and pulled out a few matches and then proceeded to wave his wand over all of them, effectively changing all of them in to different sorts of needles, they were all different lengths and were made from all sorts of different metals like silver, brass and copper.

Harry grinned to himself, he loved transfiguring things. He pulled out more matches and then proceeded to transfigure them in to different sorts of needles, he even gave one a pattern of blue flowers and another of green birds, unbeknown to him that Professor McGonagall was standing stunned right behind him.

"How are you doing that Harry?!" asked an irritated Hermione when she couldn't transfigure her match properly.

"It's very easy Hermione, the concept is easy, you need to will the match to change in to a needle, you need to focus your magic on transfiguring the match in to a needle and you need to wave your wand in the correct way, but you need to balance all three out equally in order for it to work." Harry explained patiently.

"But that's what I'm doing? You weren't even paying attention! How do you know that?!"

"I know how to transfigure things off by heart, its not really all that difficult, and yes that is what you're doing but the way your doing it is unbalanced, your focusing too much on waving your wand perfectly."

"But that's where the magic comes from! You need to wave the wand for the spell to work!"

"No, you're wrong Hermione, magic doesn't come from a wand, it comes from inside of you, from your magical core, if it came from the wands we could give muggles them and have them learn magic as well. Now all you have to do is focus, not so much on waving your wand, but on your magic. Will for the match to turn in to a needle and concentrate your magic to turn it, then wave your wand in the correct way and, presto chango, you have a needle that had a match as an origin."

Hermione did as Harry had instructed her and found to her delight that he was right and in between her fingers now was a perfect needle.

She grinned at him and Harry felt himself smiling back at her, but before they could say another word a voice spoke from behind them.

"Well done Mister Potter, ten points to Gryffindor for being the first to change your match, and thirty points for being able to explain to your fellow classmate about the process of transfiguration in a way that was easy to understand and for giving clear instructions that led to a successful transfigurement."

Professor McGonagall looked stunned and astonished at the same time as she went and started helping Neville Longbottom.

"Wow Harry that's sixty points you've earned on your first day! Congratulations!"

Harry sat in stunned silence for the rest of the lesson, after he had completely transfigured his whole box of matches he had asked Professor McGonagall if they had any homework assignments for that lesson, she had given him the homework assignment and then watched in awe as he dove right in to it and wrote three inches more than what she had asked for without even consulting his text book or asking for help.

When the bell rang signalling lunch the students packed all of their things away and barrelled out of the door, all except two, Hermione was waiting for Harry as he handed his homework in to Professor McGonagall two days early.

* * *

James and Sirius were worried and frustrated. Harry wasn't on any of their floors, they only hoped that he had either slept in or Lily and Remus had found him. Right now he should be in his lessons, but they had no idea what lesson he had, damn it they should have listened when the schedules were being given out!

"Come on Prongs, it's almost lunch time, hopefully he'll be there."

So the two great friends set off to the Great Hall in search of three things, Remus and Lily, Harry and most importantly food.

Remus and Lily were already at the table when they arrived and looked incredibly happy about something.

"What's got you two so cheerful?" Sirius asked once they were in earshot.

Lily pointed to the middle of the Gryffindor table where a very small boy was sitting with his back to the hall munching slowly on a sandwich.

James and Sirius felt their hearts burst, he was alright and he was eating! They both let out sighs of relief and sat down and started eating their own lunches.

"Do we know why he wasn't here for breakfast?"

"No, he just never turned up, this is the first time I've seen him eat anything, I'm really worried about him James, when do we approach him? I want to see my baby now! I miss him and it tears me apart to know he's sitting right there and he's hurting and I can't do anything about it! I can't even speak to him!" Lily raged at her husband.

"I know Lily; you think I don't want to do those things as well? That I don't feel the same way? Damn it we can't do anything just yet, you know that we have to wait! I hate the idea as much as you do Lily love, but he doesn't even know we're his parents! How would you feel if some stranger just runs up and hugs you? He'll be scared out of his wits! It's not much longer though love, after dinner we'll take him to the hospital wing, get him fixed up and then get to know him, we'll have our baby back soon."

Lily smiled at her husband; he always knew how to cool her down, well as long as she wasn't yelling at him directly that is.

It was nearing the end of lunch when Minerva McGonagall showed up, she looked shocked and awed. She walked up to the head table and then placed an essay in front of James.

James looked at her confusedly and read the essay through, his eyes went wider the more he read. He placed the parchment down and whistled.

"That's damn impressive that is." he stated.

"What is it Prongs?"

"It's an essay on the process of changing a match in to a needle, only this is amazing, it explains the transfigurement and then the process of Transfiguration itself! This is amazing! A first year wrote this?!" at Minerva's nod, he whistled again. "That's damn impressive! The kid must be a genius! I never understood the complex process of Transfiguration until sixth year! Who wrote this paper anyway Minerva?" he asked in interest, Transfiguration was a subject he held close to his heart and knowing a first year understood the complex subject awed him, he wanted to speak to the kid as soon as possible!

Minerva didn't answer instead she pointed her finger to the tiny name in the upper left corner and James let the parchment slip between his fingers.

Lily, Remus and Sirius looked at each other in shock before reading through the paper themselves; it was amazing to see how much this child knew! How much they understood about the complex process that was Transfiguration. When they finished reading the paper they looked for a name and found their mouths dropping open in shock, written in a neat and cursive hand was the name Harry James Potter.

Once Lily had gotten over the shock of knowing her baby had written the paper she could have slapped herself, the handwriting was the same as the letter Harry had sent to them! She should have recognized it straight away!

"Good god! Harry! Our Harry wrote that?!" James blurted out.

"Yes he did." Minerva whispered out. "He didn't even so much as look at his text book! He never asked me or anyone else he just sat there and wrote it! He even helped another student to Transfigure their own needle! Taught them better than I could do myself! The boy is a genius!"

The four sat in silence absorbing the fact that their son was a Transfiguration whiz kid. Minerva joined the silent group think the same as them, she'd have to keep an eye on Harry, he was a teachers dream.

* * *

Lunch was over soon enough and Harry found himself sitting in the middle of the Potions classroom looking directly in to the deep, black eyes of the potions master Professor Snape, he didn't know why but he had the funny feeling that Professor Snape didn't like him very much, but that was preposterous, the two of them had never met and Harry had done nothing to warrant such dislike. He pushed the feeling away as nausea, after lunch he began feeling much worse than he had all day, he had to find the hospital wing and fast!

The lesson started off with Professor Snape taking the register and when he reached Harry's name he sneered and taunted him.

Harry was hurt and confused; surely Professors weren't allowed to act like this? Harry had a hard time controlling his fly away emotions, but snapped back to attention when he heard his name being mentioned yet again.

"Potter! What would you get if you added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry thought back to all of the texts and journals he had read and studied over the years and mentally added the two ingredients together. Ah of course! Draught of Living Death!

"Asphodel and wormwood added together make a sleeping draught sir, it is so powerful that it is called the Draught of Living Death, it is named as such because if made incorrectly can place the drinker in to a state of irreversible sleep."

Harry noticed his professors look of stunned shock with a touch of grudging awe mixed in.

"Correct." he bit out tersely. "Potter where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?"

Harry noted his professor looked smug, like he had finally caught him out, but Harry thought for the most fleeting of moments before answering the question.

"I would look in the stomach of a goat Professor, a bezoar is a small stone that can be found there, it is formed due to the goats diet of knotgrass and it can save people from most common poisons, it does this by absorbing the poison from the blood stream, however it doesn't work on the stronger poisons, for that an antidote should be procured from a potions master or a mediperson, depending on the strength of the poison and the amount ingested the antidote needs to be carefully created to unique specifics, if the poison is unknown however, a sample of the poison is required before an antidote can be made."

"Do you know how antidotes are made?" Professor Snape asked in a barely audible whisper looking shocked and amazing against his wishes.

Harry thought for a while, thinking back to the potions manual he had read the previous year.

"The poison has to be first split in to components using a process of separation, this is normally heat, but water can be used if ingredients are denser than others. The separated components must then be nullified with other ingredients, then, in order to counteract the poison, the nullified components must be carefully blended together in the right order to ensure the stability of the antidote. Once the antidote has been carefully constructed the right amount must be administered, too little will not fight the poison and too much will cause the poison to spread more quickly."

"Why is that Mister Potter?" the potions master breathed in astonishment.

"Because all antidotes to unknown poisons are called 'live' antidotes, they are called this for a reason, that reason is because of the use of the 'live' poison in the antidote, if administered incorrectly the antidote will not have any affect on the poison running through the blood stream, except make it spread more quickly because of the over use of a 'live' antidote."

"Correct again Mister Potter, what can you tell me about monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Harry looked at his potions master, confusion shining out in his amazingly green eyes, his classmates were deathly silent looking at the exchange between their professor and the tiny little runt of a Gryffindor.

"Is that a trick question sir?" he asked, confusion lacing his voice.

"Of course it isn't Potter, you little idiot! Professor Snape wouldn't have asked otherwise!" the laughing voice of Draco Malfoy echoed off of the dungeon walls. The Slytherin's all started laughing and Harry felt his eyes brim with tears again, but for the most part he answered the question anyway.

"It's just I thought monkshood and wolfsbane were the same plant sir, aren't they also known as aconite?"

Harry looked his professor in the eye and saw him smirk a little and then frown when he noticed the tears running down his cheeks.

"Correct again Mister Potter, they are the same plant and are also known as aconite."

It was the Gryffindor's turn to laugh at a tomato red Draco Malfoy, but Harry didn't join in; he was still trying to get rid of the tears that had sprung in to his eyes from Malfoy's taunting comments.

* * *

Severus Snape was a man who was surprised very rarely and by very few things, but today was one of those times, he was all set to hate, ridicule and torment the son of his arch enemy James Potter, but when he started asking questions to throw the boy off guard and humiliate him, he found that the boy knew all the answers! He even knew how to create 'live' antidotes! Those were N.E.W.T level questions! And the boy knew the answers! He answered them all perfectly!

Severus was beyond amazed and he grudgingly acknowledged awe at the boys answers, there wasn't a hint of arrogance in his voice, only polite and respectful answers and then the last question was in the form of a polite rebound question, the Malfoy boy had knocked his confidence and it was unnerving to see anyone question and doubt themselves after such little baiting.

Severus was also very surprised to see tears rolling down the boys cheeks after the taunt, what horrors had the boy gone through to ensure that one little jibe set him off in to tears?

Severus realised with a stab that the little boy sitting in his classroom was not the Potter reincarnate, but took more after Lily, his lovely Lily! He looked in to the shimmering eyes and felt another stab to his heart. He took his gaze away and set them the task of creating a simple potion, he watched out of the corner of his eye as Potter, no, Harry, he was more like Lily, not that overly inflated, pompous, ass Potter, paired up with the girl, Granger, next to him, he sent her to the potions cupboard and then proceeded to set up his cauldron, Granger returned with the correct ingredients and then he watched enthralled as Harry showed and then directed the girl in how to make the potion.

They spent the first five minutes of the lesson reviewing the instructions and the girl seemed to be having a silent hissy fit at Harry, for what looked like time wasting.

Severus rolled his eyes and was amazed to see Harry doing exactly the same. He then looked like he was explaining the importance of going over the instructions, quite rightly so as well, Severus caught himself thinking, it was the smart thing to do. He was amazed that none of the others did it, but then again they seemed to be dunderheads like he received every year, but Harry, he seemed to know everything about the art of potion making.

When the duo seemed to finally get around to the potion Severus watched in morbid fascination as Harry used delicate hands on the ingredients and instructed Granger to do the same, she seemed to be going in to another hissy fit, but Harry quelled it by explaining again. Parts of their whispered conversation found its way to Severus' ears and he found he was right in his assumptions so far, Harry was indeed explaining the need to treat the ingredients carefully, unlike the rest of the class, Severus let his eyes wander to his Slytherin's and took note of how they were either disfiguring their ingredients or not measuring them accurately, he groaned in frustration and then looked back at Harry, he was carefully crushing a snake fang, he seemed to be having difficulty though, and it wasn't any wonder either with the size of him, Severus wondered why he was so small, he had never seen such a small boy his age.

An hour and a half later, the bell was due to ring in ten minutes, Severus had watched as Harry handled the ingredients with delicate hands, watched as he attentively cut, crushed, chopped and measured the ingredients he needed, the boy was a natural at potions, he had obviously inherited Lily's talent as well as her eyes and part of her personality, for that he was glad.

Something else had caught his eye though, pain and fatigue kept flashing on to his face, he looked like he was slipping, his attentiveness was slipping as well, yet he didn't make a single mistake with the potion. He and Granger had finished first despite starting last, which went to show that taking the time to review the instructions was not a waste of time, as Harry was now proving to Granger.

Harry placed a sample of their potion in to a flask and clearly placed both his and Granger's name on the flask, he couldn't help but notice he placed Granger's name first, and he walked up to the aisle to his desk, he never made it though as Draco Malfoy stuck his foot out and tripped Harry over, Harry's flask shattered under the pressure of his little hand and left bits of glass and a potion seeping across the floor, Severus waved his wand and the mess disappeared from his floor, but Harry was sitting on the dungeon floor with a potion covered, cut and bleeding hand.

Harry was clutching his hand protectively to his chest and his eyes brimmed with tears again as the students started laughing at him.

"Flask your potions now!" Severus snapped at his class in irritation.

They did so in a heart beat, once they were all packed away and cleaned up he sent them on their way with a few minutes of class to spare, but he wasn't interested in that, Harry was packing his things away with only one hand and seemed to be falling asleep on his feet, he waved the Granger girl away and the Weasley boy as well.

They were on their own in the classroom now.

"Mister Potter, I think you should head to the infirmary."

Harry looked up at him, his eyes were out of focus and Severus knew what was going to happen, he darted forwards and grabbed the falling child, he picked him up with one arm and marvelled at how light the boy was, he weighted nothing! Severus could barely feel the boy in his arms! He grabbed Harry's book bag and then set of to the infirmary on the second floor.

He met no one in the halls, for which he was glad, he reached the infirmary quickly and without incident apart from Harry coughing and choking a few times, he placed the boy on to one of the crisp white beds and went to find Madam Pomfrey, the school matron.

* * *

This is now the longest chapter I've written so far, I hope you enjoyed it. I still can't believe how much support this fic has, over 25,000 hits!

As always any questions please don't hesitate to ask, sorry for the rather long A/N: at the beginning but it was necessary as I had quite a few complaints.

What do you all think of Ice? What sort of personality do you think I should give her? Should I make her in to the female version of Forest or have her kinder and less sarcastic?

StarLight Massacre. X


	8. The Inevitable Meeting

A/N: A big thanks to Luke-Chan for being my 200th reviewer!

Chapter Seven - The Inevitable Meeting

Poppy Pomfrey prided herself on looking after the sick children of Hogwarts School. Ever since she was a young girl, she had always known she would be a healer one way or the other. She took great care and pride in her job, she loved knowing that she could make children feel better, to be able to heal them after their accidents. She had been in this profession for many, many years and she had seen it all, or at least she thought she had.

She was startled from her notes at the end of the first day at the school by Severus Snape, the Potions Master. She stood up immediately, obviously he had had another Potions accident in his class, but no, he was acting weirdly, he never got this worked up over anything, especially not Potions accidents made by his classes.

"Severus…?" she asked cautiously.

"The boy, he's injured, he just fainted! I have no idea why!" the man bit out in worry and impatience.

That was all Poppy needed to hear, that a student was in her ward, hurt. She bustled out of her office and went on to the ward and there lying on one of the beds was a tiny child that looked to be no older than six years old!

Confused she walked up to the little boy and felt herself gasp, Harry Potter! So the papers were right for once, oh the poor boy.

She snapped out of her reviver, she stood over his bed and began waving her wand over him and held a piece of parchment in her other hand waiting for the results of her diagnosis.

She gasped at what her readings told her.

"Severus does James and Lily know he's here?" she asked in the process of tipping a vial of bright yellow potion down the boy's throat, gently stroking his neck to help the unconscious boy swallow without choking.

"No, I had him last lesson, he fainted just before the bell rang." was the silky reply.

"Go and find them! They'd want to know about this. Go now!"

Severus left to find the Marauder bastards and Lily, feeling very much like a reprimanded schoolboy.

* * *

In the Great Hall the Marauders were eating their dinner and looking out for Harry, once again, he was missing from the meal, his classmates had shown up without him and now ten minutes in to the meal, there was no sign of him.

"Oh, where is he this time?" wailed Lily "He can't miss another meal! He's only had lunch! Oh my poor baby, where are you?!"

"Come now Lily, I'm sure he's fine, he probably got kept behind after class or something, Minerva said he had Potions last and you know what Snape's like."

"James now isn't the time to go in to a Severus Snape is an evil git tirade." Remus told his friend.

"Yes it is Moony! Its always time for a Snape's an evil git tirade." chastised Sirius, laughing at the stern look on his long time friends face.

"Well if any of you bothered to notice, you would have noticed that Severus just walked in to the hall, and Harry is still no where in sight."

"What has he done with my boy?!" James raged. "If he's locked him in the dungeons or…or anything as horrible, I'll curse him so hard his head will be on backwards!"

"Nice James, that has to be one of the lamest punishments I've ever heard."

"Shut up Sirius!"

"Shutting up."

* * *

Severus reached the head table and made a beeline straight for Lily, the only one who would believe that he had taken her child to the hospital wing to get medical treatment.

"Lily?"

Severus scowled as Black and Potter glared at him, Lupin looked impassive and only Lily greeted him with that heart-warming smile of hers.

"Hi Severus, what's wrong?"

"If you're here to complain about Harry then save your breath! We know you had him last period and if you have so much as sneered at him I'll kill you!" James burst out.

Severus raised an eyebrow and watched in amusement as Lily turned on him.

"James! You kill anyone and I'll have something to say about it! Leave Severus alone! Is it worth it?! You're grown men now! Leave your stupid school boy grudges in the playground!"

"Yes Lily."

Severus had to hold in a snicker as he watched Potter being reprimanded by Lily, it was very amusing.

"Now Sev, what did you want?"

Severus inwardly smiled at the nickname Lily had given him since he was a child himself. He would never admit it but he loved that name.

"Lily, your son Harry, he's in the hospital wing, I was told to come and get you."

Severus didn't even finish his sentence before all four of them were out of their seats and running full pelt towards the door. Severus rolled his eyes and snickered, before following at a more leisurely pace.

* * *

James and Sirius reached the hospital wing first being the fastest runners of the group; they burst in through the double doors and went straight over to Poppy who was prodding the only patient on the ward.

Gasping for much needed breath, they looked down at the baby Marauder and felt their hearts lurch in to their throats and their breath catch in their chests yet again.

He looked so small, so pale and so sickly. It was a gut wrenching sight. Remus and Lily caught up to them and looked down at Harry as well, Remus acted very much the same as James and Sirius, but it was Lily who burst in to tears and started sobbing and clutching Harry's tiny, dimpled hand.

"I…I…Poppy? What happened?" James stuttered at the medi-nurse.

"Severus brought him in just after the bell rang for dinner; Harry fainted in his classroom so he brought him here."

"I bet he was the one who made him faint!" Sirius burst out savagely.

"Mr. Black!" Poppy shouted back at him. "Mr. Potter has been unwell for quite an extended period of time! He over taxed himself, so his body shut down! I'm surprised he made it through out the day!"

"Poppy what's wrong with him? Will he be okay?" Lily whispered.

Poppy sighed then referred back to her notes.

"There are a few things wrong with him, despite the obvious physical signs of damage, he should be fine if he sticks to the healing course I've place him on."

"Hea-healing course?"

Poppy nodded her head still deep in thought, before she snapped out of her thoughts to elaborate.

"Yes, as you can probably see he is far too small and thin for anyone his age should be, this is due to a lack of essential B vitamins that children get from food.

The most obvious deficiency is B7, which has impaired his growth to the extreme, I can't find a single trace of it in his body, this is unnerving because it means that either he has been severely mistreated or the person he has been living with were ignorant to a child's needs to the vitamin, however this is easily fixed with a vitamin B complex supplement that he has to take everyday at breakfast, within a few years he should be an average height."

"A few years?!"

"Yes Mr. Potter a few years! Or did you think I could solve a long running vitamin deficiency like this in a matter of minutes?!"

"But he'll be better once he takes the supplement?"

"Yes Lily dear, but I'm afraid you're going to have to get use to having a small son, ten years is a long time to go with a vitamin deficiency and it unfortunately inflicted quite a bit of damage to his body, he will start to grow again when the supplement is taken correctly, but ten years of damage is a lot to make up for, he may never reach his full height, the most you can hope for is that he reaches an acceptable height for his age in a few years time."

"When I find out who had my son, their going to wish they were never born!" James threatened his eyes glinting dangerously.

It was a sign of how much Lily was upset that she didn't shout at her husband for threatening murder yet again that day.

"Unfortunately that isn't even the surface of what's wrong with Harry." Poppy continued looking sadly at the group on front of her.

"There-there's more?"

"Unfortunately yes James there is, vitamin B7 isn't the only vitamin he has a deficiency in, there's also vitamin A, which explains his unnaturally pale skin, vitamin E, which explains why his lungs are weaker than normal and vitamin B3, which accounts for his weakness and the bags under his eyes as a vitamin B3 deficiency causes insomnia."

All four of them were gaping at Madam Pomfrey as she listed off all the vitamin deficiencies Harry had.

"It's strange though, he lacks in all of those four, yet his levels of vitamins C, D and K are sky high. It's such an odd combination, to be lacking in four major vitamins, but thriving in three others."

Poppy was mumbling to herself whist waving her wand, almost absentmindedly, over Harry's unconscious form.

"Poppy…?"

The matron's head snapped up and she smiled slightly.

"Sorry, it's just so strange."

"Is there anything else wrong with Harry?"

"Well from my readings I've found that he hasn't eaten hardly anything for approximately a month before he came here, his stomach is incredibly weak and damaged, it is unable to hold large quantities of food and his stomach wall is incredibly thin. I believe this is due to an illness he has been suffering from for the past month or so, I'm unsure as to whether or not he's still suffering from it. Have any of you seen Harry eat?" she asked suddenly at the end of her diagnostic.

"Umm, yes he had a sandwich at lunch, but that's it since he's been here."

"Sweet Merlin it's worse than I thought! He's obviously _still_ suffering!"

"Suffering from what? What has the illness done to him Poppy?"

"I believe it was a very severe case of food poisoning, his weak stomach lining comes from the constant excess of stomach acid that has ate away his stomach wall, this is because he wasn't eating food for the acid to digest, he obviously wasn't eating food because it made him vomit the food and his stomach acid and that caused the damage to his throat and mouth."

"Food poi-poisoning?" Lily croaked her grip on her baby's hand tightening.

"Yes, I have no idea what caused it though, only Harry can clear that up for us. Now I've applied a throat soother and a stomach strengthening potion, he's had a fever reduction potion and a stomach settling potion, he needs to take nutrient potions and vitamin supplements when he wakes and I'll need to apply a bruise salve to his skin, as well as finding a remedy for food poisoning, he is also, for some strange reason, suffering from a long term spell of lead poisoning! Its not severe but it's still there, I wish to know where he got such an illness, lead poisoning! I will need a cure for that as soon as possible, Severus you might have to make that for me."

Severus nodded his head in understanding, never once taking his eyes off of the small boy, nobody knew when Severus had joined them or even why he had, but they didn't care, Harry was their priority now.

"Do you know what caused the bruises Poppy?" Lily asked in a quiet voice, sounding desperately like she didn't really want to know.

Poppy sighed heavily. "The bruises on his neck are in the shape of fingers Lily, I believe they were caused by strangulation, there are also finger shaped bruises on his wrists, he had cuts on his hand, as you can see that's bandaged up now, he must have had someone place a glamour charm on him though, because my wand is telling me there is more damage but I can't see it, particularly on his face and on his left forearm."

"Can't you remove the charm?" Remus asked, speaking up for the first time since he saw his cub lying so still in the hospital bed.

"I've tried everything I can think of, nothing will budge it."

Remus opened his mouth, to perhaps say a suggestion, but he was cut of by a small whining sound.

The six adults looked down at Harry who's face scrunched up, before he viciously pulled his hand away from Lily's, he then rolled on to his stomach, facing away from Lily and the others and he snuggled his face in to his pillow.

"My baby hates me!" Lily cried in desperation, sobbing in to her hands.

"Lily he's sleeping, he doesn't know who you are! Give him time and let him actually wake up first."

Lily nodded her head sadly before softly stroking her son's unruly hair. Harry started muttering incoherently, but stopped the moment Lily's hand left his scalp.

"I take it from his actions he doesn't like to be touched." Poppy commented, making a note of it on her parchment. "Again another classic sign of abuse."

"But I'm not going to hurt him! How can he associate a soft stroke to a punch?!"

"In severe cases a child who has been physically injured by a person they once trusted, often associates all touch with pain, so they cringe away from all forms of contact with other people through fear of being hurt again."

"So he-he's afraid I'm going to hurt him?" Lily breathed softly.

"I'm sorry Lily dear, but that is what it looks like, I may be wrong, but in any case you should all work doubly hard to show him, not just tell him, that you'll never hurt him, actions speak louder than words after all and it is that more than anything that will make him trust you, unless of course there is something we're missing, an underlying reason why he doesn't like being touched, but we'll only know that when he's awake."

"When _will_ he be awake Poppy?" Sirius asked the matron.

"Whenever he wakes up now, he's just sleeping and a good thing at that too; my readings show he barely gets four hours of sleep a night, incredibly unhealthy for a boy who needs at least ten hours of sleep a night."

"Four hours? Four hours?!" Lily screeched. "Why isn't he sleeping properly?!"

"Calm yourself please Mrs Potter, you'll wake up Harry! I have no idea why Harry sleeps so little, I suggest you ask him when he wakes up." Poppy said going in to professional healer mode.

Lily deflated, she desperately wanted to start stroking her baby again, but she was afraid of waking him up or being subconsciously rejected by him.

All four of them sat down, two either side of Harry's bed, and waited for him to stir.

* * *

Harry was in bliss, he felt so much better! Much, much better than he had in ages! His stomach was settled, he could move without it bubbling in protest, his throat felt better and he felt warm and cosy.

He was slowly bringing himself to wake up, slowly becoming aware of his body's position and then he became aware of something that caused his heart to constrict in fear, he became aware of a another's presence! In fact more than one persons presence! They were close, much too close! Harry didn't like it! He felt boxed in, cornered and caged, he could feel his heart beating loudly and erratically, his breath quickened and occasionally hitched.

He sat bolt up right and became aware of five people, two either side of him, one further away and whiteness! His breathing became quicker as he failed to recognize the room he was in; he was hyperventilating now and was dimly aware of shouting from the people next to him.

Then the one thing he was waiting for happened, someone touched him! He jerked away from the offending person and found himself sprawled on the cold floor panting for breath and darkness growing in the corners of his eyes. He couldn't breath and his chest was closing up, his mind was fogging over and his vision was going black. He could hear voices, whether in his head or from the people surrounding him he didn't know, then another person ran in to the room, a woman dressed all in white, his carer! His carer had come back for him! No! He liked it here! She said she didn't want to see him ever again! Why was she here?! The woman ran to him and he dragged himself as far away from her as possible, his breathing still in short and shallow gasps, the woman was talking to him but he heard nothing over the roaring of the blood in is ears, she tried to approach again but Harry screamed and dragged himself further away from her shaking his head empathetically, she backed off and Harry still lying down on the ground started fighting for breath, fighting against the darkness and fighting to remain conscious, he could not let her hurt him again! Never again!

Then another person approached him, a man this time Harry acknowledged dimly, pushed everyone out of his way, much to their protest and knelt down beside him, Harry was now shaking in fear, he was unable to move due to lack of breath, but that never stopped him from trying, a hand reached out and touched his forehead, but instead of flinching away as he usually would of done, Harry recognized the touch! It was buried deep in his subconscience. He knew instinctively that this man wouldn't hurt him; how he knew he didn't know, but he had a feeling, that this man had helped him before. He felt something smooth and cold touch his lips and he twisted his head away from it, his brain and body frozen with fear, suppressed memories came to the forefront of his mind, memories of being forced to suck on toxic lead piping and more of being forced to hold ice in his mouth until it melted or suffer dire consequences. So many memories, so much pain! A soothing voice cut through his fear and he forced himself to concentrate on what the words meant.

"It's a calming draught child, it will help you to breathe." a voice whispered in to his ear over the racket in the background.

Harry knew that voice, he knew this person! How? How did he know the man?! The man wasn't lying either, Harry desperately needed to breathe again, for this he needed to trust this man.

He once again felt the cold vial pressed to his lips and this time he allowed it to be tipped down his throat. A few moments after he drank the potion, the roaring in his ears left the fogginess of his brain left and so did his blurred vision, his heart and pulse rate returned to normal and so did his breathing.

"I'm going to place you back on to the bed now child." the voice whispered.

Harry braced himself and felt himself being gently scooped up from the floor and placed back on to a soft bed.

Harry let out a little half yawn and rubbed his eyes with his balled up fists. He hated sleeping during the day! It threw him off schedule and made his body think it was morning! He then remembered why he was sleeping and felt a slight burning sensation in his cheeks and knew, without having to open his eyes, that little red patches had just shown up on his cheeks. He then remembered with another notch of embarrassment that he was in Potions and that he remembered his Professor's touch because he had obviously brought him up here in the first place!

'Irritation thy name is sickness!' Harry thought savagely, and then he remembered, with another jolt, about his familiars! They were in his book bag still! Where was his book bag?! Had they found them? Killed them? Let them go in to the Forbidden Forest?! Harry felt his heart rate climbing again, with a vicious lurch his panic overrode the mild calming draught, and sent him in to another panic attack.

"Harry?!" a female's voice rang through his whirlwind thoughts, he ignored her, he didn't want her he wanted Forest and Ice! He needed his familiars!

Someone touched him again; the feeling was unfamiliar to him so he jerked away from it, not knowing if it was there to help or to cause harm, but he didn't want to find out and didn't care either way, he just wanted Forest and Ice!

He snapped his eyes open again and saw that his vision was once again blurry.

"Stand away from him!" an irritated voice said somewhere to his left. "If you all rush at him you're going to make him worse!"

"What would you know about it Snape?!" an enraged man sounded from his immediate right.

Harry immediately cried out and cringed away from the enraged man; he tried scooting as far away, from where the mans voice had sounded as possible. He backed up right against something solid, his breath caught in his chest before a familiar touch came to rest on his shoulder, Harry clamed down somewhat, knowing that he was in safe hands and away from the enraged man.

"It seems you have your answer Black."

The enraged man, Black snarled and Harry tried to back away further and whimpered in fear.

"Child calm down, he wont hurt you." the voice whispered in to his ear.

Harry's breathing came down a few more notches and he felt his chest loosen up slightly. Harry knew the man behind him wouldn't hurt him.

"Can you control yourself now Black? Or do you wish to scare your Godson further?"

Only one word of what his Professor had said registered in Harry's mind. Godson.

That meant that the enraged man was his Godfather Sirius Black, his Uncle Padfoot! But why was he angry? Didn't he like Harry? Oh, god what if he wasn't supposed to be here? What if that's why his parents never came and looked for him! They didn't want him! They were angry because he was here! Harry felt his heart wrench in to two pieces. He gripped the nearest thing to him at that moment, his Professor's sleeve. He clutched the sleeve, and inevitably his Professor's arm, to his chest. His eyes were wide and he started crying and shaking in misery.

* * *

Severus was beyond angry with those Marauder fools! Lily had listened to him without question and Lupin had moved a moment after, but Potter didn't move at all and then there was the idiot Black! He just had to challenge him even though he could see the damage it was doing! Obviously, Harry had picked up on the anger in the man's voice and had promptly moved as far away as possible, towards the end of the bed!

Severus had stepped forward to catch the child if necessary, but it wasn't necessary, Harry had stopped and leant against his chest shaking like a leaf!

Needless to say, Potter and Black looked outraged that Harry had willingly chosen Severus as a backrest, Lupin again looked impassive, but Lily was smiling, by the looks of it just glad that her son was calming down.

Although he didn't show it, Severus was glad that he was the only one that Harry felt safest around. It made him feel wanted and needed. Then Harry seemed to have another relapse and went back into having his third panic attack in less than fifteen minutes, it definitely couldn't be good for the boy's already poor health or his weak heart and lungs.

Something was different this time however, Harry had reached out and grabbed Severus' robe sleeve and was clutching it to his chest, his body shaking more than ever.

Severus did the only thing that seemed logical, picked him up, and pulled the hysterical child in to a hug.

Those foolish Marauders had their eyes popping out of their heads and looked lost for words, but it was Lily's reaction he loved the most, she was wearing a hundred-watt smile with tears in her eyes.

Harry calmed down in less than a few minutes and fell back off to sleep. Severus attempted to return him to his bed, but every time he let go of the child he whimpered and clutched Severus' arm tighter, for such a small boy he sure had an iron grip!

Severus gave up trying to remove his arm and with a groan sat down in the chair beside the bed, glaring at everyone.

"When did you grow a heart Snape?"

Yep, he knew it was too good to be true, he knew it wasn't possible for them to just shut up and stay quiet, even for the boy's sake.

"I'm a teacher Black; I know how to look after children."

Lily made a noise behind him and he knew right then that she knew he was bluffing; she would talk to him later however, she knew not to challenge him in public.

His answer was half-true however, he did know how to look after children, but it wasn't because he was a teacher, oh no, it was because when he had graduated he had wanted a family, which included children. He wasn't some cold-hearted monster that hated everyone; no he was just hurt that now at thirty-two he still hadn't achieved his dream of a family.

Harry's grip kept loosening whilst he was asleep, but every time Severus made a move to remove his arm, the iron grip was back. Severus sighed every time this happened; it looked like he was here for the long haul.

He glared at Potter and Black, who had gotten over their anger and now found the whole thing hilarious, that the stone cold Potions Master was a captive of a child, Potter's child none the less! But Harry wasn't anything like his father, oh no, he was Lily in male form.

Half an hour after Harry had fallen asleep, he abruptly let Severus' arm go, Potter and Black groaned, they were finding it entertaining still! But Severus was overcome with a sudden sense of loss. That is however, until he saw that the reason for Harry dropping his arm was because he was awake and needed his hands to rub his eyes.

* * *

Harry woke up yet again and felt groggy, his face was stiff with dried tears and his bottom and lower back hurt.

He released his grasp on whatever he was holding and reached up and gently rubbed his eyes clear of sleep.

He sat up and yawned behind his little hand before stretching his back and cracking at least several vertebrae. He opened his eyes and felt his mouth drop open, he shut his eyes again quickly, he must still be dreaming, he did not just see his improper family sitting around him, he didn't see his parents and he didn't see his Uncles Moony and Padfoot, he didn't, it wasn't possible! They had left him! They hated him!

He slowly opened his eyes again and they were still there smiling sadly at him.

Harry noticed something behind all of their eyes; it was an emotion he had never seen directed at himself before, but one he had felt for only three living things, his familiars Forest, Ice and Hedwig.

He remembered why he went in to a panic attack again and felt his eyes widen.

"My book bag! Where's my book bag?!" he burst out suddenly in a tiny, scratchy voice, he was almost in tears, he needed to know that his familiars were safe.

"Here child, I brought it up for you."

Harry looked to his left and saw his Potion's Professor holding out his book bag, it was still firmly closed.

Harry let out a sigh of relief, took his bag from his Professor, and gave him a grateful smile.

"Why is your backpack so important Harry?" a man who could only be Harry's Father asked gently, as if afraid to set him off again. Which, Harry noted that after his performance, he probably was.

"My familiar is in there." Harry replied softly, one hand inside his bag stroking the tops of Forest and Ice's heads.

"You keep your familiar in your backpack?" asked what he supposed was his Uncle Padfoot in humour.

Harry nodded his head shyly. "They like the dark and they like being close to me."

"Hold on they?!" questioned his Father. "How many familiars do you have? Two?"

Harry could sense that his Father was just curious; then again, Harry supposed he would be as well; most witches and wizards only ever have one familiar.

"No, I have three and I hope to get many more over time." Harry was of course referring to Forest and Ice mating and having babies, but the adults didn't know that, so were confused as to why Harry was suddenly smiling happily.

"Ow!" Harry gasped and withdrew his hand from his bag and studied his bleeding finger. "You didn't like that comment did you? Well it's only true." Harry continued to speak in English, he knew that he had only just started his lines of trust with his family; he didn't want to break them so soon by speaking Parseltongue

"_It is not true child!" _Forest hissed softly so only Harry could hear him. _"She is a hatchling! I am over two hundred years old!"_

Harry startled the adults by randomly giggling at apparently nothing, then still giggling his heart out he grabbed his wand from the bedside table and within seconds had healed his finger.

"So Harry, you keep your three familiars in your backpack?" his Uncle Moony asked him, seemingly desperate to get Harry talking instead of giggling at what they assumed was his backpack.

Harry started giggling again, only this time at Remus. "No, Forest and Ice stay in my backpack, Hedwig is in the owlery."

"Hedwig's your snowy owl?"

"Uh-huh, she's really pretty and chooses frogs over mice when hunting."

Harry was inwardly laughing at their faces, he was just trying to stop the conversation being drawn to Forest and Ice, but he knew it was no good, if he was ever going to have his family back, they needed to accept him as him. Forest, Ice, Hedwig, and all.

"So are Forest and Ice both sleeping?"

Harry shook his head. "No, Forest's awake, Ice needs to rest after her accident."

"Oh so Ice is a female as well?" a woman he knew as his Mother asked.

"Yep, there's two females, Ice and Hedwig and two males, Me and Forest in my little family."

Harry was oblivious to the hurt he had caused by saying that sentence, he didn't mean it of course, he just meant of _his_ little family, not his blood family.

"So…uhh…can we meet Forest then if he's awake?" Sirius asked trying to cover the hurt they all felt with a question.

Harry noticed the hurt in his Uncle's voice and cutely cocked his head to the side.

"Why are you hurting?" he asked softly.

The adults were all stunned by his perceptiveness, but at the moment it was a curse, they wanted to get to know him at least a little bit before they explained about them being his family.

Harry felt their unease and immediately knew they didn't want to tell him something, so he let the subject drop…for now at least.

"It doesn't matter, it was rude of me to ask, I'm sorry, anyway this is Forest." Harry said before plunging his arms in to his backpack and carefully, as not to wake Ice, he pulled the four foot Forest out from his book bag.

"Oh my god Harry, is that a snake?!" his Father yelled in sudden fear and worry.

"_No it's a long rubber tube!" _Forest hissed in annoyance.

Harry giggled at his furiously hissing snake, but the others couldn't understand Parseltongue and the vicious hissing had them on their feet with their wands drawn.

"What are you doing?!" Harry shouted in fear for Forest.

"Harry that's an Ecryption Green snake!" his Uncle Sirius shouted back.

"So?!"

"So?! How can you say that Harry?! Their the most dangerous snake on the planet!"

"No their not! The Dusk Crawler is and Forest wouldn't hurt me."

"Harry Dusk Crawlers are extinct and he already bit your finger!"

"He was playing because I said he and Ice were going to have babies together." Harry had tears streaming down his face, but he was adamant that he would make his family believe him; even if it meant showing them that, he could speak Parseltongue.

"Hold on is Ice a snake as well?!"

Harry nodded his head slowly, biting his bottom lip between his pointy little teeth.

"Harry show us Ice as well."

Harry put his hands gently in to his backpack and made it look like he was trying not to wake the snake, but he was really casting a protection charm around both Forest and Ice, just in case they started casting spells. He knew they were going to freak out the moment they recognized Ice for what she really was.

Slowly he cupped his hands around the little snake; she was awake now, having been woken up by the commotion. Harry pulled her out still cupped in his hands. He looked up in to the faces of his family.

"Open your hands Harry."

"Promise you wont hurt her or Forest."

"Harry, please open your hands."

Harry knew then for sure that they were planning on casting spells to hurt his familiars, he didn't blame them, most people would be terrified of seeing an adder but Harry had two of the most deadliest snakes in history sitting in his lap, but he wasn't going to accept the fact that they wanted to hurt his familiars so he reinforced his shields before opening his clasped hands.

There was silence for what felt like an eternity before his Mother dropped her wand and collapsed back in to her chair, but his Father, his Professor and his Uncles still had their wands trained on Ice.

"Harry, please, please tell me that that isn't a Dusk Crawler." his Uncle Sirius pleaded with him slowly and desperately.

"I can not lie, she _is_ a baby Dusk Crawler, I found her in my back garden just before I came to Hogwarts, isn't she beautiful?" Harry cooed stroking her head with his fingertips.

All four mens mouths opened and closed, but no sound came out, they all looked speechless.

"_Master? What is going on?" _Ice hissed softly.

"_He can not answer little one, not yet, he will alert the other humans to his gift of serpent tongue." _

The adults raised their wands when Forest and Ice started hissing again, but only James and Sirius actually struck.

The two spells reached Forest and Ice but before they came in to contact with the snakes, they hit an invisible shield.

"I thought you'd try something like that." Harry told them, half in anger and half in sadness. "It's a good thing that I took the right precautions isn't it?"

"Harry those snakes are dangerous!"

"No there not! If they were do you not think they would of killed me by now? Do you think that if they had wanted me dead Forest would of injected me with his venom when he bit my finger? They sleep with me every night, in my bed! If they wanted me dead, do you not think they would have killed me in my sleep? It isn't in a snakes nature to wait for prey! They are not humans! They do not gain trust and then strike when you're least expecting it! If they had wanted me dead they would of killed me sometime in the past month! You're all just prejudice against snakes because of that stupid dark lord omen! I'm not giving up my familiars and your not going to make me either!"

Harry slumped back against his pillows, tears cascading down his anger flushed cheeks.

Forest reared up and started hissing at the adults, but Ice curled herself tightly around Harry's un-bandaged wrist.

"_Pathetic humans! How dare you upset the gifted! Upset my Master! You shall all pay for what you have done! I'm going to bite off your fingers and tongues and then digest you all whole, alive and very, very slowly!"_ Forest was showing one of his rare fatherly acts towards Harry by threatening the adults that had upset him.

To the adults however it was incredibly frightening and unnerving to have a snake hissing furiously, non-stop and reared ready to strike at you, especially if said snake was a deadly venomous Ecryption Green who had a shield against magic around it!

Harry however was enjoying the knowledge that Forest cared for him, he giggled as his snake's threats became more outlandish.

Finally, when the adults looked like they were going to wet themselves, Harry reached out and gently stroked Forest's head.

Forest calmed down and then recoiled in to Harry's touch, slumping down on to the bed then slithering up and curling up on Harry's chest and curled his tail around Harry's thighs.

"You shouldn't of upset me, Forest gets very protective, he'd never attack unless I told him to though." Harry said simply.

Harry looked up at the adults; they all looked like they were going to melt in to puddles of liquid. Harry giggled at the mental image this conjured up and speaking of conjuring things.

Harry felt his throat tighten and his voice turned in to a sandpaper like scratch, he flicked his wrist (the one without Ice attached to it.) and a beautiful crystal goblet appeared in his hand, another flick of his wrist and the goblet was filled with iced pineapple juice, a favourite of his since he had discovered it when he was four.

He drank deeply from the goblet before placing it on his bedside table. He lay back against his pillows and looked at the gaping adults.

"What?" he asked.

"How…how did you do that?!" his Father stuttered out in astonishment.

Harry raised one of his little eyebrows. "Magic." he replied as if the man was a very slow retarded child.

His Potion's Professor snorted and then looked desperately out of the window trying to hide his mirth. He wasn't the only one either, his Mother laughed out loud and his Uncle Remus chuckled.

"But…but how?! That was wandless and wordless magic! Most adults can't do that! It takes a lot of power and concentration!"

"Really?!" Harry replied enthusiastically "I've always been able to do it; I only bought a wand because the school list said I needed one." Harry chirped happily now that they weren't shouting at him for having snakes anymore.

Harry had the strongest impression that his Potion's Professor was biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing, his Uncle Remus was doing the same, but his Mother was covering her mouth with her hand, trying to hide her silent laughter.

His Uncle Sirius and his Father's reaction was the funniest though, they resembled very bad ventriloquists.

"You only bought a wand because the school list said you needed one?!"

Harry nodded his little head enthusiastically. "Yep, I only got Hedwig because the list said I needed and owl, a cat or a toad, I had already gotten Forest as my first familiar by then.

"Will Forest bite if I touch him Harry?" his Mother asked suddenly, her voice wavering slightly. She was the only one trying to make an effort, she accepted that Harry came as a package with his familiars and she was trying to show him that she loved him enough to get to know his familiars.

"No, not at all, he loves being stroked."

His mother moved closer to the bed, his Father and Professor Snape looked like they both wanted to say something to stop her, but couldn't voice their thoughts quickly enough.

Harry kept one hand on Forest's head, his fingers playing with his snake's mouth, just in case, whilst he took his other hand and guided his Mother's outstretched hand to Forest's cool, smooth scales.

His Mother flinched when Forest hissed in contentment.

"It's alright he likes it. He's letting you know that as well by hissing."

"How do you know that?" his mother breathed softly.

"I can sort of speak to snakes." Harry mumbled under his breath, he wasn't counting on anyone hearing him, so when his Uncle Remus choked on air and looked at him in surprise, Harry mirrored his look.

"What?!" Remus asked out disbelief.

"How did you hear me all the way over there?!" Harry asked his own disbelief on his face.

His Uncle seemed to pale dramatically before he faced Harry again.

"Never mind that now, was what you said true?!"

"Yes, I said before I never lie, I'm a good boy." Harry said cutely.

"What did you say?" asked a confused Sirius.

"I can speak to snakes, I'm a Parseltongue." Harry said loudly and clearly.

Uncle Remus was smiling proudly at him, the other three men were staring and his Mother was looking contemplative.

"Are you really a Parselmouth Harry?" came a soft voice from the doorway.

Harry looked up in to the blue eyes of the Headmaster. Harry nodded his head shyly. "Yes sir, I am."

The Headmaster smiled at him. "Would you like to give us a demonstration?"

Harry looked at both his familiars, Ice was sound asleep still wrapped around his wrist, but Forest's lime green eyes were wide open.

"_They want a demonstration of my gift Forest."_

"_So I heard."_ he replied dryly.

"_Can you understand humans as well?"_

"_I can sort of get the gist of what their saying, I can mainly understand insults and threats."_

"_Why does that not come as a surprise?" _Harry asked with a chuckle.

Harry looked back up at the gaping adults with a small smile on his face.

"Forest says hi." he told them laughing at their shocked reactions.

"_I said no such thing child! Tell them the truth! That I want to bite, inject and slowly digest them!"_

Harry giggled his little heart out. Pushing one of his tiny fingers in to his familiar's mouth to stop him from speaking, Forest immediately clamped down on it. This caused Harry to giggle even more.

"Harry he's biting you!" His Father shouted in fear, worry and concern.

"Huh? Oh he's not hurting don't worry, I'm stopping him from speaking so he's just trying to get my finger out of his mouth by chewing on it." Harry giggled again.

"Harry it's not very nice to do that, take your finger out of Forest's mouth." his Mother scolded him lightly.

Harry mock pouted, looking so adorably cute, Lily had to bite her tongue to stop herself from cooing.

Harry took his finger from Forest's mouth and then covered his ears as a stream of profanities reached his innocent ears.

"Harry?! What's wrong?"

"Forest has a very bad mouth." Harry explained with a scowl.

James and Sirius laughed, whilst his Mother, Lily, glared at them.

"How does he know swear words?" his Uncle Padfoot asked in confusion.

"_I am over two hundred years old you pathetic human! I picked it up years ago! Your kind are foul-mouthed morsels to me! Oh how I want to rip you to pieces!" _Forest hissed at Sirius.

"_That's not very nice Forest!" _Harry admonished his familiar.

"_I am sorry Master, but it's true! You are my Master not him! I hold a grudge against humans as does the little one! It is in our nature! You are only safe because we like you! Because you can speak our language! And because you helped the both of us."_

"_Elder Forest is right Master, it may seem horrible and gruesome to you, but it is in our nature to maul humans, as they would do the same to us, you saw with your own eyes that two of those humans tried to hurt us without any provocation from either myself or Elder Forest."_

Harry wondered when Ice had woken up, but sighed, he had to agree with them, they were right, his Father and Sirius _had_ attacked them the moment they had saw them.

"_Please don't hurt them, they are my family, I need them as much as I need the both of you."_

"_We wont hurt them Master, but know only that we don't attack them because you have told us not to." _Forest assured him.

"_Thank you."_

Harry looked up at the adults, who currently had their jaws on the ground, Harry giggled at them all.

"Forest says you're a pathetic human and that he has lived for over two hundred years so it was inevitable that he picked up a few cuss words." he told Sirius.

Sirius' mouth dropped even further to the floor whilst his Potion's Professor snorted and bit his lips to keep from laughing. His Father recovered from the shock before laughing as well, his Mother looked like she was still in shock, his Uncle Remus was smiling widely and the Headmaster's eyes twinkled brightly.

"Have you told our young Mister Potter yet?" The humour filled voice of the Headmaster cut through the silence.

"Tell me what sir?" Harry asked politely, his curiosity piqued.

Lily looked at her husband and he nodded.

Harry looked at his Father who's face had turned serious.

"Harry, we're your family." he explained suddenly, when he received nothing from his son he elaborated. "I'm your Father, my wife, Lily, is your Mother." He pointed towards Lily. "And these are our family friends, they are your Godfathers, Remus and Sirius." he pointed to them in turn and Harry sat there trying his up most to keep from bursting out laughing.

They all looked very anxious and slightly afraid of what he was going to do next. It was all very comical to Harry, who was inwardly applauding himself on his fine acting skills, but if he didn't know that they _were _his family he would have freaked out at the insensitive and sudden way his Father had broken the news to him.

Suddenly it all became too much for Harry to take and he burst out in a fit of giggles, clutching his sides and using his pillows for support, Forest hissing agitatedly at him because he was being jostled from the force of Harry's giggles.

"We're serious Harry; we really are your family." Lily said mistaking her son's response as disbelief, instead of humour.

"Well duh! Of course you are!" Harry said looking at them all with a bright smile.

The adults shared a shocked look, this was an unexpected twist.

"You knew?!" Sirius burst out in disbelief.

"Of course I did! I'd have to be dead, deaf and blind not to notice!"

It was Severus Snape who broke the deadly silence that had befallen the hospital wing, he did one thing he hadn't done for many, many years, he burst out laughing.

Albus Dumbledore followed his lead, but it was only Remus who laughed from the Marauders group.

"You, young man, have a lot of explaining to do." His Father said in mock seriousness.

--

Another chapter completed and over 33,000 hits! Thank you to all those who have reviewed and for those who are reading the story. As always any questions you have, I'll be glad to answer. X


	9. Explanations

_Last time_

"_You, young man, have a lot of explaining to do." His father said in mock seriousness._

Chapter Eight - Explanations

Harry giggled insanely.

"What do you want to know? I'd be happy to answer your questions."

"How did you know?! We never let anything slip! What gave us away?!"

"I knew from the first moment I saw you! Like I said would have to be dead, deaf and blind not to have noticed!"

"But how?"

Harry ducked his head, how did you tell people that you stole family photo albums?! Harry decided that he had to tell the truth, he had always stuck by his morals and he had always said to himself that he would never lie about big things like this, although sometimes white lies were acceptable to him, there was a need for privacy after all.

He put his hand in to his book bag yet again; he always carried the smallest photo album with him. It was filled with pictures of his parents, it was small because it was only filled with pictures that included him in them, him with his Mother or Father, him with Uncle Padfoot or Moony, pictures of him with some of the teachers and pictures of him on his own or with people he didn't know or recognize.

He slowly and carefully pulled out the blue leather bound book and handed it over to his Mother, who happened to be closest.

She recognized it the moment she saw it, her eyes went wide and she didn't even need to open it, she ran her fingers lightly over the front of it and then looked back at him with tears in her eyes.

"How? Where did you get this?" she asked in a shaking voice.

"Lily what is it?" his Father asked looking every bit as confused as both of his Uncles did.

"It…it's the baby book we made for Harry when he was a baby." she said handing the book over.

"None of you have changed all that much, so I was able to recognize you from the photos." Harry explained quietly, as his Father and Uncles flipped through the photos.

"But where did you get it?" his Father asked looking up at him. "The last I saw of this it was in the ruins of Godric's Hollow where we used to live when you were a baby."

"Well yeh, I've been living there for seven years, I found it on one of the bookshelves in the drawing room."

"You…you've be…been living in Godric's Hollow?!" his Mother stuttered out.

"Yeh for seven years."

"Who…who have you been living with?" his Mother asked quietly, she tried gallantly to hide her fear of the answer, but she didn't succeed.

"Pettigrew!" his Uncle Sirius roared suddenly. "It had to have been! No one else knew the secret!"

"Sweetie was it this man?" his Mother asked taking the book from her husband and pointing to a picture of a fat, balding man holding desperately on to a screaming and flailing baby.

"Ha! Rat man?! Holy Merlin no, I wouldn't let _that_ come near me if my life depended on it and it did! I knew there was a reason I didn't like him."

"You know I never understood why you disliked him so much. I never knew right up until that Halloween night, then it all made sense and you still hold that grudge against him don't you? Good boy!" his Father said with a grin.

Harry giggled and then sat smiling at his family.

"So Harry if it wasn't Mr Pettigrew, who were you living with?" the Headmaster asked the smiling little boy.

"No one, I've been living on my own."

It took a few seconds for them to absorb this piece of information and when they finally comprehended what he said his Mother screeched and flung herself at him, Harry, unused to such sudden movements, gasped and threw himself out of her way and fell back on to the floor. He sat there shaking like a leaf, nursing a sore bottom, with his eyes wide open with fear, his unshed tears threatening to fall.

Why the hell couldn't he have let her hug him?! Why did he go and have a panic attack?! Why couldn't he have realised that she wasn't going to hurt him?!

"Sweetie? I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you, I would never hurt you."

With fear and adrenaline still pumping through his body Harry could do little more than squeak at her. He let the tears fall and pushed himself up against the wall.

Every time someone attempted to approach him he squashed himself further in to the wall, then something happened that had him choking on air, the woman in white was back! She was back for him! She was coming closer and closer, Harry was now squashed so far in to the wall that any further and he would become part of it, but still she came closer! Harry screamed and clutched his knees to his chest and lay down on his side, shaking in terror, his cheeks soaked with tears.

'God I'm such a loser!' he screamed to himself. 'They're my family! They aren't going to hurt me! They won't let _her _hurt me again.'

'You don't know that' an evil voice in the back of his head sounded.

'No! They would never hurt me!'

'They might.'

'No they won't! Stop saying they will! I trust them!'

'You trusted her as well, you've been wrong before, why can't you be wrong about this?'

'No! They are nothing like her! They are kind and nice, she wasn't!'

'She started out nice though, she was nice to you so she could gain your trust, how do you know that isn't what these people are doing? They left you alone in a house for seven years, they have even admitted they knew where the house was, why not come and look for you?'

Harry's breath hitched and his heart wrenched in pain, the voice in his head was right! His carer had started out nice and then had started to turn nasty, giving him unfair punishments and making him do things that two and three year olds should never have to do! His family had left him alone for seven years! They knew where Godric's Hollow was, they had left all of their things and all of Harry's baby stuff there, why didn't they ever go back to get it? To check up on the house? If they had Harry would have been reunited with them sooner!

A familiar hand on his cheek brought Harry back to the hospital wing and he opened his eyes to stare in to jet-black tunnels.

"Child? Are you alright?" The man whispered to him.

Harry recognized the touch and the voice, but he couldn't put an identity to them, his bottom and lower back hurt from the amount of times he had fallen on them, his head was spinning and his stomach was clenching horribly.

"Child? If you can hear my voice answer me! Child? Harry?!"

The man was sounding desperate now; Harry wondered why he was desperate and what he wanted so badly, he was getting tired, he just wanted to sleep, his mind was being flooded by thick fog, his vision was almost nonexistent and he didn't even know if he was breathing or not.

The man's voice was fading, being drowned out by the roaring noise in Harry's ears; his touch was getting stronger though, it was gentle and soothing. Harry leaned in to the touch until he was resting against something solid. He was dimly aware of leaving the floor and being held in strong comforting arms.

"Child I need you to calm down."

The voice cut through the fog, it sounded panic-stricken. What did it want? To calm down?

'But I am calm.' Harry found himself thinking. 'It's him that needs to calm down not me.'

"Harry baby? Please I'm so sorry! You need to calm down sweetheart please!"

Wasn't that his Mother's voice? What was she sorry about? Why did people keep asking him to calm down? He was calm!

Harry felt the soothing touch stroke his cheek, he leaned in to the touch again, he felt his mind become less foggy, he experimentally opened his eyes, he deduced that he was being held by a man, his head was being cradled by a large hand and he was looking over their shoulder at a woman dressed in all white. Harry's heart clenched in fear, he screamed and lashed out, and whoever was holding him, it had no effect, except to make the man hold him tighter.

Then Harry knew nothing more, his mind went blank, his body went limp and his vision went dark.

* * *

Severus Snape was _never_ going to live today down! Harry seemed to be the most jumpy, twitchy and insecure boy he had ever seen! He flinched at every little noise and backed away from all forms of human contact, except for his!

It was inevitable that he would flinch away when Lily went to hug him and Severus watched in horror as Harry squealed and pushed himself away from Lily and fell straight off the bed yet again, he watched again in horror as those Marauder fools approached him! What did they think! That the boy would be cured by an hour conversation, where they spent half of it attempting to kill his familiars?!

Severus watched with exasperation as they still tried to approach him only to have Harry squash himself in to the infirmary wall! It was a heart wrenching sight to see such a frightened little boy with tears streaming down his face; it was absolutely vile to know that someone had done this to him! Made him in to someone who was so afraid of people he resorted to flattening himself against a wall!

Then Poppy came sprinting on to the ward and Severus watched as Harry spotted her and screamed. He definitely did not like Poppy Pomfrey for some reason. He was now lying on his side with his knees clutched to his chest. Severus had to do something or this boy was going to die from a heart attack!

He pushed everyone out of the way and almost groaned when he felt Albus' blasted twinkling eyes on the back of his head.

He knelt in front of the terrified boy, he placed a hand on the boy's cheek and felt him immediately relax, Harry's beautiful eyes opened and started in to his and Severus saw the range of emotions that were running through them. Anger, trust, pain, betrayal, but most prominent was fear.

"Child? Are you alright?" Yes he knew it was a stupid question, but he needed to know if the child was at least coherent!

Harry made no acknowledgement that he had even heard him! He was looking at him with a blank face and fear filled eyes.

"Child? If you can hear my voice answer me! Child? Harry?!"

Nothing, no acknowledgement of any kind! The boy was in a fully-fledged panic attack! He was seeing things that weren't there! Then something miraculously happened, confusion entered Harry's eyes, like he knew what was being said he just didn't understand it! Suddenly Harry's eyelids dropped, the boy was suffocating himself! Severus was shocked, Harry couldn't breathe! Lily's son was going to die here, right in front of her! His grip tightened and he did the only thing that came to mind, he grabbed the boy's almost unconscious body and brought him up from the floor, he cradled the small boy's head with one of his hands and supported his body with his other hand, everyone was smiling amusedly at him, blasted idiots!

"Child I need you to calm down." he whispered urgently to the small boy, he could feel Harry's heartbeat and it was beating very, very fast. He needed the boy to calm down and calm down now! He had already had two doses of calming potion anymore and they run the risk of poisoning the tiny boy.

Lily slowly approached, but made no move to touch him, she had tears running smoothly down her cheeks and Severus knew then that she blamed herself for what had happened.

"Harry baby? Please, I'm so sorry! You need to calm down sweetheart please!"

Severus started stroking the child's cheek, he was burning up! They needed him to calm down so he could take medication! Harry leaned in to the touch yet again, a few moments past before Severus felt the child's heartbeat becoming slower. He mentally sighed in relief, but it was too soon, the child tensed and his heart rate climbed even higher than what it was before! Then he screamed again and started kicking out, he was too small and too weak to do any real damage, he was, in fact, not hurting Severus at all, but Severus tightened his hold on the trashing boy, before Harry's body suddenly went limp.

Severus pulled the boy away, looked at him in shock, and then rushed to put him back on the hospital bed.

"Poppy!" he screamed to the matron.

She was there in a flash, had her wand out, and was already casting diagnostic spells over the boy.

"Oh holy Merlin!" she yelled out before rushing to her stock room. She came back less than a moment later carrying an armful of brightly coloured potions.

She ignored everyone as she selected a carmine coloured potion and tipped in down the young boy's throat. Severus recognized it as the potion that brought blood pressure back up.

After Poppy had gotten Harry to successful swallow the potion she turned and gave him a Chartreuse coloured potion and attempted to get the unconscious Harry to swallow it, this potion, he realised, was a heart strengthening potion, another potion was a deep ultramarine colour and he recognized it as a fever reduction potion.

Potion after potion went down the young boy's throat and after ten minutes Poppy waved her wand again, looked at the piece of parchment and then collapsed down in to a chair.

"Poppy is he okay? Will he be alright?" Lily asked franticly.

"Harry is going to be fine Lily dear."

"What happened to him?" asked a scared looking James Potter.

"He had a panic attack James, then, because he was hyperventilating, he passed out from lack of oxygen, his blood pressure dropped to a dangerously low level, his heart became weakened though the amount of stress it has been put through, which isn't surprising seeing how panic attacks he has had today, he had a high fever and lower back pains, the stomach settling potion wore off as did the throat soother. But all that has been dealt with, he will wake up when he gets enough oxygen through his body, it shouldn't be too long."

Indeed it wasn't long before the young boy started stirring, not even five minutes. He coughed slightly and rolled on to his side, he hiccupped a few times and then his eyes fluttered open, confusion was the prominent emotion in his eyes, before realisation dawned on him, he groaned lightly before pushing himself up, he immediately looked for his snake's, Severus felt like laughing, this boy had only been in his life for less than five hours and already he had felt like laughing more times today than for the past twenty years of his life! He didn't know what it was about this boy, he didn't know if it was the abnormally small frame, the amazing Potion's skills or the fact that he seemed to have been abused even more than Severus had when he was a child, but he couldn't help caring for this child! Even if it was Potter's boy, he was Lily's as well and seemed to take after her more than Potter anyway, for that he was glad.

* * *

Harry woke up hiccupping, he opened his eyes and it took a few moments to realise where he was, the hospital wing still! He sat up and saw Forest curled protectively around Ice at the foot of his bed; the adults in the room were giving them a wide berth. He smiled and then started stroking Forest's head; he was completely out of it. Harry giggled and then looked at the adults in the room, his family, his Potion's Professor and the Headmaster were all still there and all of them were looking at him, it was unnerving him.

"Umm…hi?" he ventured.

For some reason this caused most of them to burst out laughing, the only people who didn't laugh were his Mother and his Uncle Remus.

"What time is it?" he asked softly, then covered his mouth with a small hand to politely cover up his small yawn.

"It's almost seven o'clock Harry." his Mother told him.

Harry groaned lightly. "I hate sleeping during the day!" he told them.

Harry rubbed his eyes again and then looked at all of the adults again; they were still staring at him.

"Have I done something wrong?" he asked.

"No Harry you haven't done anything wrong, but what is the last thing you remember before going to sleep?"

Harry thought this an odd question to ask, but let it slide and thought back to what he could remember. Talking about Godric's Hollow? Was that the last thing he could remember? No, he distinctly remembered pressing himself against a wall! But why had he done that? What had scared him? Then as if a slideshow was playing in his mind he remembered his Mother rushing to hug him, himself freaking out and having a panic attack, the conversation he had had with his own conscience, the calming touch and voice, _her!_ She was here!

"Harry?! Harry!"

The calming touch was back and he turned around to face it, he buried his face in to the source of comfort and allowed himself to calm down. It would not do him any good to bring his panic attack count up to, what was he on now? Four? No he'd be on five! Stupid panic attacks!

Harry became aware that something was moving on his belly he turned and faced it.

"_Child! Master?! Listen to me, calm down this instant or I swear I'll bite you!"_

'Forest!' Harry's mind screamed at him, his first familiar.

Then pain! Forest had kept his word and had bitten Harry's arm, hard! It effectively worked! Harry got his vision back and his breathing under control, he heard people shouting and he became aware that he was being clutched protectively to someone's chest, but as Forest was on Harry's body and magic didn't do anything to him, it defeated the purpose of the protection.

"Ow!" Harry cried out, startling the room's occupants.

"_What was that for Forest?!"_ Harry hissed to his familiar clutching his arm.

"_You needed to calm down Master! A sharp sudden shock, like me biting you, caused your mind to focus on the pain and not your memories and fear. Painful but effective."_ Forest replied simply.

Harry started giggling, much to the surprise of the adults.

"Stupid snake! You had better watch yourself or I'll feed you to a Thestral!" he exclaimed in English.

"_Of course you would." _Forest hissed smugly, before returning to his protective duties, curling up around Ice once more, but keeping a firm eye upon Harry.

Harry giggled even more, then smiling brightly he looked up in to the worry filled faces of his family and the Headmaster's beaming face. It was then that Harry realised he was still being held by his Potion's Master! Embarrassment coursed through his body making his face flush.

"M' sorry." he whispered to the room at large.

"Harry sweetie, it isn't your fault." his Mother was quick to reassure him.

Harry looked up in to her love filled eyes and felt the tears start to form. He slid from his Potion's Master's lap and shuffled his way up to his Mother, he sat in front of her and looked at her eyes, so much like his, if he focused entirely on them and not the rest of her face, he would think he was looking in to a mirror.

"I'm really sorry." he whispered again.

"What are you sorry _for _Harry?" she asked.

"For thinking you were going to hurt me." he told her softly.

"Oh Harry, it's okay, I know it's going to take time to get use to us all."

She was so understanding! So nice and so kind, not at all like _her_! She was never this nice, not even in the beginning.

"_Oh just hug her already! I want to sleep sometime today!" _Forest hissed in irritation.

Harry giggled before throwing his little arms around his Mother's neck and hugging her. Harry felt elated when he felt her hugging him back tightly. She smelt like soap and roses. He really didn't want to let her go, but he felt her body shaking and her tears were wetting his shoulder. He pulled back from her and looked in to her tear filled face confused, he used his little fingers to gently brush away some of her tears.

"Why are you crying?" he asked softly. "Did I hurt you?"

Lily shook her head, biting her bottom lip, she was incredibly happy that Harry had accepted her, but became saddened when his first reaction to her tears was to think that she was hurt in some way, just what had happened to her baby? What horrors had happened to him that made him react so violently to human contact? They were going to have to ask him slowly and gradually and keep him calm and reassured, in order to get the answers they wanted.

"No sweetie, you didn't hurt me, I'm just so happy." she pulled him in to another hug and marvelled at how small and light he was and how utterly huggable her small son was.

"Why are you crying if you're happy?"

"Sometimes, when people are really, really happy they get so emotional that they have to cry to let it all out."

Harry nodded his head in understanding, hadn't he read something about emotional breakdowns? Where it became too much to hold in and the emotions forced their way out? Yes he was sure he had, it was in a psychology book.

Harry sat back on to his bed and looked around, there was no one that resembled _her_ and there was no one wearing white, he let out a shaky breath and lay down on his stomach his head resting next to Forest.

"How long until I can leave the hospital wing?" he asked gently.

"Don't you like it here Harry?" his Father asked in amusement, why he was so amused Harry had no clue.

Harry shook his head slightly. "It's too white."

Much to his alarm his Father and his Uncle Sirius burst out laughing. Harry sat bolt upright and blenched away from them. He backed right up against his Potion's Professor, reached behind him, and clutched his arm.

"Shut up!" Professor Snape hissed dangerously.

Both of them looked up and their mouths dropped when they saw Harry, they looked at each other then at everyone else with guilty expressions.

"Harry we're sorry, we didn't mean to scare you, it's just I never liked being here either and for the same reason as you, this room is too white."

Harry nodded his head in understanding, but his eyes were still wide and fearful. He was still clutching his Potion's Professor's arm tightly, afraid to let go of the comfort.

"Harry baby?"

Harry looked at his Mother, she raised both of her hands and slowly approached him, he made no move to dissuade her, but kept her firmly in his sights at all times.

She slowly sat on the bed by his feet and just as slowly reached out to him, the closer she got the more wary Harry got, what was she trying to do?

* * *

Lily lightly touched her baby's face and drew courage from the knowledge that he didn't flinch or shrink away from her touch. She lightly wrapped her arms around her baby and hugged him.

She didn't care that she was also hugging Severus' arm, she didn't care that Harry stiffened slightly at the full body contact and she didn't care that she was crying again. Her baby was scared! And that's all she needed to know.

After a few tense moments Harry's body relaxed and she felt his arms going around her neck. She loved his hugs, they were so tender, yet so full of love it was unbelievable. What terror had her baby boy been through to make a hug seem so important to him? If she didn't know any better she would of thought that he had never been hugged before in his life, but maybe he hadn't? What if her baby was so deprived of affection that he craved comfort from anything he could get it from? She hugged him tighter and heard a small yelp of pain, she looked up at Sev and realised that she had just crushed his hand in between her's and Harry's bodies, she smiled and chuckled a little bit before loosening her hold on Harry.

"Sorry Sev." she exclaimed.

"That's alright Lily." he replied clutching his hand.

Lily smiled at him, he had always been such a wonderful man, he just needed to break out of the fortress he had build around himself, or maybe he needed someone to break in and drag him out. She looked at Harry and remembered everything Sev had done for him today and rather thought that perhaps Harry would be the person to drag him out of his fortress.

"M' sorry." a little voice exclaimed.

Lily looked back at Harry's little face, he looked so dejected and sad, she pulled him on to her lap and squeezed him slightly.

"Harry you have nothing to be sorry about! You can't help it, we know that and we accept it, please don't be sorry for things you can't control."

Harry made a non-committable noise and subtly changed the subject, no one but Severus noticed, after all he wasn't head of Slytherin house for nothing.

"So when _can_ I leave?"

"We're not sure sweetie, you have had a stressful day and you have been really sick lately haven't you?"

Harry looked at his Mother and nodded his head slowly. There was no point in lying, they knew anyway and Harry _had_ been unwell for the entire month of August and was still feeling under the weather.

"Do you know how you got so sick Harry?"

"No I don't, but I suspect it was food poisoning, all of the symptoms pointed that way, but I really don't know where I got it from."

Harry talked himself in to silence and fell deep in to thought, where had he gotten the food poisoning from?!

"Yes sweetie you did have food poisoning, you had it very bad as well."

Harry hummed in agreement; he was still deep in thought. He was still being clutched in his Mother's lap and felt oddly content.

"Did you eat any new foods?" a new voice asked. "Sometimes the shock of new foods to the bodies system can cause a severe reaction like food poisoning."

Harry spun around and came face to face with a strict looking woman, with soft, kind eyes and a questioning look on her face. But Harry never noticed that, what he did notice was that she was dressed in all white!

Harry backed away from his Mother and unconsciously sought out his Potion's Master; he crawled up to the man and grabbed a hold of his arm in a death grip.

"Child she won't hurt you." he whispered in Harry's ear. "Her name is Poppy Pomfrey and she is the school's matron. She has helped to heal you today."

Harry let out the breath he was holding, she wasn't the same person, she wasn't _her_! He leant in to his Potion's Professor and forced himself to calm down; he didn't want another bite from Forest now did he? The other two bites were still on his arms; one covered by a glamour the other still bleeding.

Harry's breathing returned to normal and he looked up at the school nurse, Poppy Pomfrey, this time however he imagined her wearing all blue and concentrated on just her face.

No definitely not her, Harry could have laughed or possibly cried at his stupidity, if only he had looked at her face instead of her dress! He would have saved himself a lot of stress and pain if he had stopped being such a baby!

It was too much for him to handle! He had made a fool of himself in front of a lot of people, this wasn't normal! He was always calm and collected! He did not break down at every little movement! What had happened to him?!

He pushed his face in to his Potion's Professor's robe and started crying. He was so stupid!

"Hush child."

It was a further five minutes before Harry actually stopped crying, he felt so weak! So stupid and so exhausted! Today was not his day!

"Ice cream." he whispered out in to the silent ward.

"You want ice cream?" his Mother asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, ice cream is the only new food I have tried; I had it when I went to Diagon Ally."

"Are you sure? That is the only new food you have tried?"

Harry nodded his head and turned to face the room's occupants, lightly brushing his tears away.

"Can I run a few tests on you Harry dear? Now I know what food could have possibly caused you to become so sick it will be easier to expel the remaining bacteria."

Harry looked wearily at Madam Pomfrey, he took away all of the white in his mind's eye and imagined her wearing a bright purple pinafore dress, with a vivid orange apron and a deep green hat with matching shoes. Harry giggled his little heart out and nodded his head, making sure to keep the colour white firmly from his new imagery.

* * *

The Marauders watched as Poppy began casting a cleansing spell over and over again.

"It _was_ ice cream that made Harry so sick." she explained once she had finished.

"I knew I didn't like it for a reason, it was far too sugary." Harry explained.

"What about chocolate you like that don't you?" asked Sirius.

Harry looked at him in confusion. "What's chocolate?" he asked.

"Noooo!!"

Harry looked startled for a moment before an open bar of brown stuff in a blue wrapper was pushed in to his hands.

"Try it Harry, I bet you'll love it!"

Harry was incredibly wary of the strange new substance, the name chocolate rang a bell, wasn't that the name of those frog things on the train? The thing that Ron had thrown at Malfoy? Yes he was sure of it.

Harry subtly tested the stuff for any magic or poisons, coming up negative he took a small bite out of the bar and promptly spat it back out pulling a face. Was this stuff made entirely out of sugar?! He conjured another goblet of pineapple juice and gulped it down trying to get rid of the taste.

"You eat that stuff?!" he spluttered out in horror, how people could even hold that stuff in their mouth was beyond him!

"You don't like it?! You don't like chocolate!" Remus asked in disbelief.

"No it's disgusting! Is it made purely out of fat and sugar?! How can you eat anything as unhealthy as that?!"

Lily and Severus laughed out loud at the looks of the Marauders faces. It was just so funny!

Poppy clucked her tongue at the men and turned to face Harry.

"You should be feeling a bit better dear, but you still need rest and I still need Severus to make a lead toxin solution, where you got lead poisoning from is beyond me! You will be staying here over night and we shall see how you feel tomorrow, I don't think you will be out in time for classes tomorrow, I'm sorry."

Harry groaned in displeasure, he had three new subjects tomorrow! He didn't want to miss any of them!

Harry leant back against the pillows, Forest and Ice were comfortably asleep at the end of the bed, the adults were conversing softly with each other and Harry was bored stiff! He sighed and then remembered he had his law book with him! He took it out of his bag, opened it to his bookmark and sat reading, ignoring everything else in favour of learning about more injustices of the wizarding world, oblivious to the incredulous looks he was getting for his Father and Uncle Sirius or the shocked but proud looks he was getting from his Mother, Potion's Professor and Uncle Remus.

* * *

I believe this is chapter eight, I hope you enjoyed it, I still can't believe this fic has over 45,000 hits! I thank all of you who have read and reviewed this fic so far and as always your questions and comments are welcomed with open arms.

I might have made a few mistakes with this chapter, so if you spot any just point them out and I'll rectify them as soon as possible. X


	10. Daily Routines, Books and Tears

_Last Time_

_He sighed and then remembered he had his law book with him! He took it out of his bag, opened it to his bookmark and sat reading, ignoring everything else in favour of learning about more injustices of the wizarding world._

Chapter Nine - Daily Routines, Books and Tears

Harry must have fallen asleep sometime whilst he was reading because the next he knew he woke up to someone stroking his hair. He immediately thought of the worst and rolled over, he got to his knees and stared wide-eyed at the person opposite him and felt his body deflate in relief. It was only his Mother who was looking very apologetic.

"I'm sorry sweetie, did I wake you?" she asked softly.

Harry was feeling ashamed for his little display and replied to her just as softly whilst rubbing his eyes gently with his balled up fists.

"No, what time is it please?"

"It's really early sweetie, only twenty to six, would you like to get some more sleep?"

Harry shook his head, he was ten minutes late getting up as it was, it must have been something to do with the fact that his Father had kept him awake until gone half eleven!

Harry went to get up but was stopped by his Mother laying her hand gently across his shoulder.

"You can't get up yet Harry, Madam Pomfrey told you to stay in bed for a while."

Harry sighed heavily; he was in for another boring day then. At least he was getting his book studying down to a tee, but that wasn't good enough for Harry, books only took you so far! He wanted to practise his magic as well as his physical training! But he couldn't do that stuck in a hospital bed!

He sighed again and sat back against his pillows, god he hoped Hermione let him copy her notes and gave him his homework. He would quite possibly die without the much-needed essays.

Harry once again picked up his law book, he was almost finished with it now and he couldn't help growling at the book like some wild animal, it was vile to know that the people who he was supposed to be supporting, his government, was this biased! This prejudice! It was sickening.

"Were you thinking of becoming a lawyer Harry?"

Harry composed himself and kept himself under control so he wouldn't jump at the sudden noise; he looked across to his Uncle Remus and smiled slightly to him.

"No, I was considering a job in law though, but I wouldn't say I have my heart completely set on it, there are too many jobs for me to still consider to tie myself to one right from the beginning."

Both his Uncle and his Mother smiled to each other, to them it seemed that Harry had inherited Lily's smarts and common sense, but what they didn't know was that Harry was much, much, much smarter than that.

Two hours later his Father and Godfather appeared from under their blankets all tousle haired and sleep filled eyes.

They crawled from their beds and yawned spectacularly and run their hands over their faces and crinkled robes.

"Mo-morning." James got out of his mouth before he yawned yet again. It was making Harry tired just watching them!

"_Lazy humans!"_ Forest hissed from Harry's waist. _"They would make much better meals; it's just a waste of space keeping them alive."_

"_Forest play nice."_ Harry rebuked his familiar gently.

"_It is boring in this room Master, why won't you leave?!"_

"_I'm not allowed to leave yet, the Healer told me to stay here, and I don't even have a book anymore! I just finished my law book and dear god how I hated it!" _Harry hissed bitterly.

"_You have more upstairs, do you not?"_

"_Yes, there are two on my bedside table and the rest are in my trunk, why?"_

"_I shall go and get them for you; Leviathan knows I need some exercise! And quite possibly some more colours, all this white is making me snow blind!"_

"_Just be careful! Don't let anyone see you! And don't bite anyone!"_

Forest didn't answer he just uncoiled himself from Harry's waist slithered down the bedpost and was quickly swallowed up by the shadows in the room.

It was this more than anything that had his family scared.

"Uhh, Harry, where is your familiar, uhhh...Ice going?" Sirius stuttered out, thinking hard to come up with the snake's name.

A vicious hiss came from the shadow right behind Sirius and he started violently and promptly moved to the other side of the room.

"Uhhh Harry?"

"Oh he's just angry because you called him Ice, that was Forest and he doesn't much like being called female."

"_Revenge! I will get revenge on the incompetent, disrespectful, human!"_

"_Forest, leave him!"_

There was no reply but Harry sensed rather than saw Forest leaving the room in a huff.

"You really should be more careful, Forest is vicious when he wants to be." He told his spluttering Godfather.

Harry lay back against his pillows and studied all of their faces; these four people were his family. They seemed to accept him and even accepted his gift of Parseltongue and, after some time, his familiars.

"How was I to know which one is which?! A snake is a snake!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at his Godfather, how could he be so dim witted? Forest was nearing five foot in length, was dark green with vivid lime green eyes and Ice was a foot in length (and growing), a pale blue colour with white-blue eyes! It wasn't exactly Care of Magical Creatures mastery level to tell them apart!

"Well you can normally tell them apart by _looking _at them, Forest is the very large green snake and Ice is the tiny, little baby, blue one." Harry replied sarcastically, a trait he had picked up from Forest.

His Father, Remus and his Mother all snorted and started grinning. His Godfather however crossed his arms and pouted, looking very much like a spoilt child who had been told he couldn't have his favourite bag of sweets.

Harry yawned behind his hand and stretched, cracking his back in the process, Merlin he was bored! He grabbed his book bag from the floor and searched through it. No, it was as he thought, there was nothing in there bar from his set books and he had already read them multiple times! With a frustrated sigh he closed the bag and placed it back on to the floor.

"Is something the matter sweetie?"

Harry looked across at his Mother and bit back a smile. Instead he shook his head no and elaborated.

"No, I'm just bored stiff! Are you sure I can't leave yet? I feel fine."

"Sorry Harry, but there may still be something wrong, you still have to take the potions Severus is brewing for you and you need to be monitored for a little while to make sure you are on the road to recovery."

Harry sighed but nodded his head resigning himself for the worst.

"I seriously hope Hermione brings me my homework assignments." he mused out loud, much to the horror of his Father and Godfather.

"If she doesn't then I'll go and get them for you sweetheart." his Mother told him.

Harry smiled brilliantly at her, making her beam in happiness and pride.

"Thank you." he replied politely.

His family didn't have time to reply as at that moment Madam Pomfrey came on to the ward.

"Good morning Harry, how are you feeling today?"

Harry was still very weary of the Healer, she was nice and kind yes, but Harry couldn't bring himself to blindly trust her. He didn't blindly trust anyone, except perhaps his Potions Professor, but he had no idea why the man seemed to be able to calm him down with a single touch and a few soothing words, not that he was complaining, he owed the man a lot.

"I feel fine thank you. How are you?"

Madam Pomfrey looked shocked for a moment before smiling widely.

"I feel very well, thank you Harry. You're up earlier than I would have thought, when did you wake up?"

"Twenty to six Ma'am."

"That really is quite early Harry, maybe the potions have upset your natural body clock, when do you normally get up?"

Harry became even wearier, was that a trick question? What would happen if he answered wrong? Would he be punished?

"Umm, normally five thirty every morning."

"Half five?! Why?!"

Harry started and looked at his Father's dumbfounded face and wondered if he had said the wrong answer, maybe he wasn't supposed to answer at all.

"Why do you get up that early sweetie?"

Harry looked to his immediate left and looked into his Mother's eyes. He shrugged his shoulders and replied.

"I always have done, ever since I was little."

"Yes, but why?!"

Harry didn't know what they were trying to ask of him, that was the reason he had always gotten up at half five, it was now part of his daily routine. The same routine that was being disrupted by this infernal hospital wing!

"I don't understand what you're asking." he exclaimed eventually.

"Well why do you get up that early?! Every morning!" Sirius burst out.

"Because I always have done, it's familiar to me, I have a fixed routine that starts at five thirty." Harry told them shrugging his little shoulders again.

"How long have you had this routine?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"_Master, I think they are trying to change your routine." _

Harry looked down at Ice who was in the process of uncoiling herself from his wrist.

"_They're not are they? I love my daily routine, I'd feel lost without it! I won't let them change it! I won't!"_

"_Calm down Master, just because they _suggest_ you change it doesn't mean you _have_ to change it, they will most likely say it is best for you if you change it, more healthy and will help you recover more, but to be perfectly honest, I believe that you should keep your old routine, the more things familiar to you at this time will help you to adjust mentally to your new surroundings."_

Harry giggled at his little familiar, she was trying so hard to be knowledgeable like Forest, Harry would bet everything he owned that she didn't even realise she was doing it.

"_I think you have been spending a bit too much time around Forest, maybe I should split the two of you up, it wouldn't do anyone any good to have two impatient and sarcastic familiars."_

Ice let out a stream of hissing that Harry would venture a guess at being spluttering indignation.

"_I was only joking Ice, I would never split the two of you up, I love you both too much to separate you, I doubt I'd survive if I had to leave one of you in my dormitory whilst one of you comes to classes with me, I'd be worrying too much."_

Harry giggled again when this seemed to appease Ice. He looked back at his family who had their jaws on the ground, well they had already seen him talking to his familiars! What did they think it was a dream? Or that he didn't talk to them very often?!

Harry thought back to the original question and remembered what set of his discussion with Ice.

"I've had my daily routine since I was four." he told the medi witch and then started stroking Ice's head.

There was nothing left to do now but wait, he didn't want to butt heads with them, but he would _not_ stand for them trying to change _his_ routine!

"When do you normally go to sleep?" was the next question asked.

"Normally nine, sometimes ten if I've had a hectic day."

"Is that why you were so tired at the welcoming feast?!"

Harry nodded his head. "I have never stayed up that late before, I was ready to just crawl into a corner and sleep the night away on the floor. And if you hadn't already of guessed that's why I didn't eat anything either, I was far too tired and it didn't fit in with my routine, If I ate at the welcoming feast I wouldn't have slept and I'd rather of waited for breakfast than spent the entire day in a state of tired inattentiveness."

"But you never showed up for breakfast!" his Mother exclaimed.

Harry felt his eyebrows raise to his hairline. He hadn't thought anyone but Ron and Hermione had noticed him not being there, obviously he was wrong. Should he tell them he ate in the kitchens? Was it out of bounds for students like the third floor corridor? If so why wasn't it announced at the start of term feast? True he wasn't paying much attention, but he hadn't heard anything about the kitchens being off limits and the house elves seemed nice enough. Were students allowed to know of it? Is that why its existence wasn't broadcasted? Oh well, he hadn't gotten in to trouble so far and lying was against his morals, perhaps if he told them that he had in fact been eating in the school kitchens he wouldn't have to take so many nutrient potions. The worst he could get was a detention and loose some house points.

"You're right." Harry started slowly. "I didn't show up for breakfast in the Great Hall, but that doesn't mean I didn't eat anything."

His Mother seemed to deflate a bit and looked questioningly at him, silently asking him to elaborate.

Harry continued on with a shrug and his best casual I-don't-care-very-much voice.

"I found the school kitchens and ate breakfast there. The house elves were very helpful."

The room's occupants seemed to have gone into a state of shock.

"You found the kitchens?!" his Father stated in shock.

"On your first morning?!" Sirius finished in awe.

Harry looked at them confused.

"Well yeh, they're not exactly hard to find are they? Down a deserted passageway, behind a portrait of a bowl of fruit that's bigger than a fully-grown man that just happens to hold a giggling pear. It's not exactly mind magic!"

His Father, Godfather and his Uncle Remus burst out laughing. Harry startled and unconsciously sought out his Mother, because his Potions Professor wasn't there she was the next best thing, he scooted down and off of the bed and curled up on her lap, never once taking his eyes from his family. He heard her shouting something and felt her arms tighten around his waist and just leaned into her.

* * *

Lily was astonished to say the least when it was _her_ that Harry went to for comfort. She wasn't delusional, she knew the only reason Harry went to her was because Severus wasn't there, but it felt nice to know that he trusted her enough, that he would look for her if Sev wasn't available.

It had caused a great row last night, after Harry had gone to sleep, with James, Sirius and Sev. James and Sirius just did not want to acknowledge anything Severus had done for Harry and Severus refused vehemently to 'stay away from Harry' when he was threatened.

Lily was as confused as the rest that Severus would protest so readily against leaving Harry, when just before he had come to Hogwarts he took every opportunity to slander and mock him. The abrupt change was a good one to Lily, but the others were not ready to accept it yet, but Remus was an unknown, he always was, he preferred to stay out of the verbal fights in order to analyse them. It was normally Remus who had the last word, because James and Sirius knew that he was always right, that is until last night when they had refused to believe him when he said Severus was being genuine.

Lily knew it had hurt him to have his friends swipe away his claims, the first time they have ever done so in their twenty-one year friendship. But Lily knew James and Sirius would come around once they realised that Remus was right and that Severus was not going to go away this time just because they wanted him to.

Lily look down at her little son and realised that he was shaking badly. She looked up at the three men and pulled on her temper strings.

"Will you three be quiet! Surely you remember from last night what happens when you startle Harry!" she screamed at them.

Lily encircled Harry's tiny waist and pulled him further into her body. She smiled when she felt him relax and rest himself fully upon her.

"Oh god Lily we're sorry!" James burst out looking genuinely sorry and upset as he took in the form of his wife and son.

Lily nodded in acknowledgment as she started rocking Harry gently.

"It's okay James, just please try to control yourselves. Just be glad he didn't have a panic attack this time."

"He didn't have a panic attack?" James asked hardly daring to believe it.

Lily shook her head. "No he didn't, you just startled him, but be glad it wasn't a panic attack or we would have needed to call Severus here to calm him back down."

Harry for his part looked like he had gone to sleep in Lily's arms, that is until a hiss of outrage had him jumping out of his skin.

"Shh Harry baby, it's just your Father doing his very bad snake impression." Lily cooed to her son.

James went to make a furious comment to his wife, but it was cut off by a cute little giggle coming from his son. He felt himself deflate as the anger was swept from him to be replaced by a fond smile and a warm glow at the scene before him.

* * *

Harry was now relaxed and aware of everything around him. For once he didn't feel foolish for his episode, he felt it was well warranted after he was startled so badly and after his family had been warned of what would happen to him, after all they saw first hand yesterday how badly affected he would be by loud, sudden noises.

He tilted his head back farther and looked up in to his Mother's face, she was very pretty Harry noted. She looked down and their eyes connected. Harry smiled shyly up at her and she smiled down at him. Harry let out another little giggle before stretching his body, still clutched in his Mother's lap. She tightened her arms around him and placed a kiss to the top of his head.

It took ten minutes of silence and his Mother's rocking before Harry finally felt secure enough to slip from her lap and clamber back on to the bed.

Harry comforted himself with the knowledge that his family were not looking at him in disgust or impatience, but rather love and a hint of sadness.

Harry was spared from breaking the awkward silence with the reappearance of Forest clutching a thick book in his jaws.

Harry giggled at the strange scene before him and his family just looked at him, they hadn't seen Forest yet.

Harry hopped from the bed and then dropped to the floor in front of Forest to relieve him of the heavy book.

"_Thank you so much Forest, what ever you want you can have." _Harry told his familiar.

"_A hunting trip would be nice, I haven't eaten in a while."_

Harry covered his mouth with his hand in an exclamation of shock. How could he of been so stupid as to forget to feed his two familiars! Harry had tears of guilt welling up in his eyes, his Mother had just opened her mouth to say something when Harry got up and bolted out of the hospital wing.

* * *

James was looking at his son curiously, before he slipped out of his bed and dropped to the floor, he was about to say something when he caught sight of the snake, Forest, with a very large, heavy book clamped in its jaws. He gulped as he realised how hard this snake would be able to bite if it could carry that book all the way from the other side of the school and a similar gulp beside him, told him that Sirius was having similar thoughts.

James didn't even jump as Harry started hissing, he was too used to his little son's parselmouth ability.

He did however jump as Harry gasped and covered his mouth with a tiny hand. He next noticed that Harry's eyes were filling up with tears, a scene that cause his heart to ache. He noticed Lily taking a few steps forward, but as she opened her mouth, Harry got up from the floor and ran straight from the hospital wing.

James immediately went in to action and went after him, he was also aware that Sirius was running by the side of him.

They ran down the corridor and then split up at the fork, Sirius going left, James going right.

Neither of them knew that Harry hadn't gone either way, but had ran straight forward, through a secret passageway that neither of them knew about.

* * *

Harry ran and ran, all the way down to the school kitchens, he tickled the pear and burst into the room, tears streaming down his face.

"Young Master! What is wrong with yous?!" one asked the moment he got through the portrait.

"Do you have any mice here? Any at all?" he asked in desperation, this was the one place he felt an incline to come to, like this was the one place in Hogwarts where he would be able to get what he wanted quickly.

"Oh yes young Master! We is stocking mice for Mr Filch's cat!"

"Please may I have some, my familiars! I forgot to feed them! I didn't mean to forget I swear I never!"

Harry's tears came thicker and faster, god he felt so useless! So cruel and unfaithful! His familiars looked to him to look after them and he forgot to feed them! What sort of Master was he?!

Harry had a box of live mice pressed upon him and he left running with a shout of thanks behind him.

He never stopped running until he got to the hospital wing, he ran back through the doors and saw his Mother and Uncle pacing the room in worry, with Madam Pomfrey looking at one of the beds. Harry ignored them for now and focused on Forest and Ice who were curled up on his abandoned bed, the same bed that Madam Pomfrey was watching.

They all looked up the moment he came in but he darted past them and pulled out a live mouse from the box and dangled it in front of Forest, who immediately reared up and snatched the mouse in one strike.

Ice was a bit of a problem, her jaws weren't powerful enough to crush the mouse's bones and her mouth wasn't big enough to swallow it whole, but it seemed Forest had this covered as he suddenly regurgitated his mouse back up in front of Ice.

Harry just laughed and held another mouse out to Forest, after all he knew all about how magical snakes fed their young. He replaced the lid back on the box once he had fed Forest another five mice and placed in on to his bedside table. He felt funny, as if he was melting, his eyes were blurring again and before he could do anything about it his body felt like it was on fire, his lungs were protesting fiercely and before Harry knew it he was throwing up again, his legs gave way and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

* * *

Lily and Remus were too shocked by the sudden departure of Harry to do anything at first, but when they snapped out of their daze and went to follow James and Sirius, neither of them were anywhere in sight and neither was Harry!

They retreated back to the hospital wing and found Poppy standing over Harry's bed watching the two snakes who were entwined on top of it.

Lily immediately burst into tears , her baby was running through the castle and he wasn't fully healed yet! He wasn't even halfway healed!

Remus went and comforted her, he was running the same thoughts through his mind, but also with images of his little cub lying on the floor out of breath in some dark corner of the dungeons. He tightened his hold on Lily before letting her go and pacing the room, a nervous habit of his, he had had since he was a teenager.

"This is your entire fault!" Lily screamed suddenly at the snake on the bed. "If you hadn't of said what you had my baby would still be here!"

Remus went and pulled her far away from the hissing snake.

"Come now Lily, let us not anger the vicious and venomous snake."

Lily huffed and then started following Remus' earlier footsteps and started pacing again, Remus joined her after a few minutes.

Every second that went passed seemed like an eternity, people always said that waiting was the hardest part, and they weren't kidding! Remus and Lily felt like screaming with frustration, they needed news! They needed James or Sirius to come back carrying a perfectly fine Harry, but as the minutes crept by they became increasingly edgy and more and more worried.

Finally after what seemed like several life ages Harry burst back into the hospital wing. He startled all three of the room's occupants, but he didn't seem to notice let alone care as he pulled the lid from the box he was carrying and pulled out a large white mouse by is tail and dangled it, temptingly, in front of Forest.

The snake reared and snatched the mouse so quickly it was gone in a flash. Harry seemed to be having trouble over what to do with his other familiar before Forest regurgitated the half-digested mouse back up in front of the other snake. Lily thought she would be sick herself at the disgusting display, but her baby just laughed and pulled out more mice.

After a few more mice, Forest had obviously had his fill as Harry replaced the lid on to the box of mice and placed it on is bedside table.

When Harry turned back around his eyes were glassy and unfocused, he swayed slightly and threw up copious amounts of blood, before collapsing to the floor.

Lily screamed and darted towards him, pulling him up from the floor and placing him on the bed just as James and Sirius ran back into the room.

"What the hell happened?!" James shouted as he went to his wife and son.

"He over exerted himself." Madam Pomfrey said sadly, pouring a slate coloured potion down Harry's throat.

"Will he be okay?" Lily asked, half-afraid of the answer.

"He should be, but I don't have a definite answer as of yet."

"Is there anything we can do?" Sirius burst out, he hated feeling helpless! He wanted to be doing something, anything to help his Godson.

"I'm sorry Sirius, there is nothing more we can do, we'll just have to wait for him to wake up and see how he feels then."

Sirius sighed heavily, but nodded his head and pulled up a chair next to his little godson and sat waiting for him to wake up. Remus did the same and after sharing a hug and a quick kiss, Lily and James followed suit.

All four of them sat next to Harry watching him closely and waiting for the poor little boy to wake up, so they knew he was really all right.

* * *

This was chapter nine, I hope you all enjoyed it, wow over 64,000 hits! I'm amazed!

Yes I am well aware that it has been over a month, but I am on a wireless network, if I don't get the signal I don't get the internet, it's as simple as that. It doesn't help that I work a nightshift either, so I sleep through most of the day.

As always any tips or criticism you have for me is welcomed, however a few of you have taken to flaming me, please don't as it really isn't good for a writer's confidence. X


	11. Of Flight and Fright

_A/N: Some of you seem to have become confused during this story and mentioned the Dursley's. The Dursley's play no role in this fan fiction, Harry has never met them or heard about them and doesn't even know they exist. At no point in this fic have I mentioned the Dursley's, they are not the ones to have abused little Harry, it was his carer who you will find out more about in up coming chapters._

_Last time_

_All four of them sat next to Harry watching him closely and waiting for the poor little boy to wake up, so they knew he was really all right._

Chapter Ten - Of Flight and Fright.

Harry woke up and immediately felt stiff and sore, as if he hadn't moved in quite a long time. He rolled on to his stomach and opened his eyes; he was still in the hospital wing, as he had expected, but it was dark still, very dark.

Harry silently groaned as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He looked at the clock on the bedside table; the glowing red digits read 2:45.

Harry sighed and looked around as much as possible. From what he could make out in the dark room, his parents were sleeping in chairs either side of his bed and his Godfather was on a bed somewhere opposite him if the gargantuan snores coming from that direction were anything to go by. But he couldn't see or hear his Uncle Remus, for some reason this hurt him, maybe the man didn't want to stay here with him, maybe he didn't like him after all.

Harry shook his head, Remus seemed like a nice man, he probably had other things to be doing than sitting in the hospital wing every day and night.

Harry tried to find Forest and Ice, but his familiars were not on the end of his bed as they always were. They were missing!

Harry felt as if he had missed a step going down the stairs, his Uncle Remus not being here he could handle, his familiars not being here he couldn't, but instead of giving in to his constricting chest and flying off into a panic attack, Harry tried to think clearly and rationally. His familiars might just be on another bed, they might be out exploring, Forest could be teaching Ice how to hunt or any number of different things. Just because they weren't there didn't mean they weren't coming back.

Harry smiled to himself; he was getting better at controlling the urges of panic.

He crossed his legs and concentrated on his little hands, where two balls of light slowly formed getting bigger and bigger, he pushed his hands together to create a singular, even bigger, ball and then pulled his hands away, leaving the ball hanging in the air like he had done every single night when he was little.

As he looked at the ball of soft white light he thought back to his lonely childhood, of all the nights he had to conjure this ball of light just so he could sleep at night or so he could read after he had had a bad nightmare and couldn't drop of back to sleep. This ball of light was familiar to him, had become a sign of safety to him.

Harry sighed and plucked up the new book Forest had brought him. 'A Complete Mastery of Potions, Charms and Transfiguration. By Walter Mortimer.'

Harry grinned; it was one of the books he had bought in Diagon Ally. The nice woman, Lindsay, had told him that it was a very difficult book for adults and suggested that perhaps he'd like a different one, to which Harry had clutched the book tighter and shook his head no.

He smiled at the memory, cracked the pristine book open and started reading the introduction pages by the light of the large glowing ball.

* * *

Harry was completely lost in his book, he was normally so aware of his surroundings, but today he wasn't, he felt so safe, so relaxed, that he forgot that there were impending dangers out there and just revelled in the knowledge the book provided him with.

When his Mother stretched and rubbed her eyes five hours later, Harry didn't notice. He didn't notice the smile on her face as she saw him reading the very thick book, he didn't notice as she sat down quietly to watch him. He didn't notice when his Uncle Remus joined her, he didn't notice when Forest and Ice slithered into the room and back up onto his bed and he didn't notice when the Potions Master came in, standing just behind his Mother.

He did however notice when his Father stirred. He broke eye contact with the book and refocused his eyes on his Father's, once peaceful, face that was currently screwed up as he tried and failed to suppress a jaw-breaking yawn.

Harry's face took on a look of confusion as he tried to work out why his Father would be waking up at two in the morning.

"Morning Bambi." James managed to get out after a series of long yawns and stretches.

Harry's face screwed up even further in confusion, his name wasn't Bambi and he was not a fawn either!

Harry just continued to stare James down until James was squirming on his chair in discomfort.

Finally he could stand it no longer.

"What?! What have I done?!" he cried out in desperation.

"Nothing." Harry replied simply, in a calm and placating voice, still without taking his gaze from his Father's eyes.

James was at the height of discomfort and confusion. His little son was looking at him in what he would describe as a thoughtful way, but his face was completely void of emotions and his eyes were boring into his, unblinking! He was truthfully a little bit scared.

He looked at Lily over Harry's head and knew she had read his fear in his eyes. He noticed Snape and Remus standing on the other side of Harry's bed; Sirius was, unmercifully, still asleep on the other side of the room.

"Did I say something in my sleep? Was I snoring? Please just tell me why you're staring at me?!"

Harry didn't respond, he was in fact thinking very deeply, why would his Father call him Bambi?! What possible reason could he have that warranted calling him _Bambi_ of all things?

'Perhaps it was a nickname I had as a baby? Did I like fawns or something?' Harry thought in amusement. 'Hmm maybe the name comes from the Italian bambino, meaning child, but why would he use the Italian name instead of English? Oh well maybe he just likes Italian or something.'

Harry giggled and tore his gaze away from his frightened and worried Father.

"Ha…Harry?"

Harry looked back at his Father, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Yes?"

"Why were you staring at me like that?"

Harry looked at the man blankly, before realising that he was looking in his Father's direction whilst he was thinking.

"Oh, I'm sorry." he exclaimed. "I was just thinking that's all. I didn't mean to anger you."

"No! No, no, no Harry, I'm not angry at you, I was just worried!" James explained quickly, trying to assure his son that he wasn't angry with him.

Harry gave the man a strange look but smiled none the less and went back to his book.

"What is that you're reading Harry? It seems very thick." Lily asked, she had been trying to see the title of the book since she had seen him with it, but it was pressed against the duvet of the hospital bed.

Harry lifted the book to show the title, but managed to do so without taking his eyes from the page he was absorbing.

The occupants of the room read the title and felt their jaws go slack in shock.

"Harry?" Remus started off slowly making sure he had Harry's attention before continuing. "Do you understand that book?"

Harry's eyebrows furrowed at the unexpected and incredibly stupid question. Of course he understood it! Why would he be sitting here reading it diligently otherwise?! Harry crushed his hurt at the thought of his Uncle thinking him stupid and nodded his head slowly.

"How? How can you possibly understand that book?!" James asked in shock.

Severus and Lily were in shock as well. They had both read that book, Severus for the Potions aspect and Lily for the Charms. It was very difficult to read let alone understand! For Harry to actually comprehend the text was laughable! But he looked so serious! Not one hint of a prank or joke, no glint of mischief, no twitches or movements at all to suggest he was lying!

"I don't understand what you mean." Harry replied in confusion, he liked the book it was incredibly interesting.

"How do you understand the book? It's a very complex manuscript meant for adults learning a specific art of study." Severus told the little boy, who had more secrets and surprises than Pandora 's Box.

Harry held the book at arms length and looked at it with a raised eyebrow, he then turned his raised eyebrow to Severus.

"It's a book." Harry replied as if the man was brain damaged. "What sort of person can not understand text that is written in black and white? What's not to understand? It's plainly written on the pages!"

Harry couldn't understand that many adults would find this book difficult when he himself could understand it perfectly, it just wasn't comprehensible to him! This book was easy to understand! All one had to do was read it! Preferably they should read beginners guides to Potions, Transfiguration and Charms first, but that was all there was to it!

"You should not be able to read that book!"

Harry's eyes narrowed at his Potion's Master's outburst. He sent a glare at the man, the first time he had ever actually glared at a person rather than a book or inanimate object.

"Are you trying to insinuate that I am stupid, Potion's Master Snape?" he asked in a furious whisper.

The adults were stunned, Severus most of all as he hadn't even realised the double meaning of the words he had spoken.

When Harry had waited a few moments to see if the silence would be broken by the gormless looking adults, he carried on his little rant.

"Well I am neither stupid nor am I impressed with your perception of me! I suggest you open you senses more and actually _see_ the people you are looking at, instead of the biased drones your mind wants them to be!"

Harry slammed his book shut the heavy noise echoing around the deadly silent room, he got up and stalked out of the room without looking back. It was a credit to how stunned and shocked they actually were when the adults let Harry go without realising that he wasn't meant to leave his bed let alone the hospital wing.

The adults had never seen Harry so angry before, not even when they had his familiars at wand point, with how cute and sweet he looked, the adults had just assumed he wasn't capable of such emotions, a mistake on their part and now they were paying for it.

It was only ten minutes later, when Madam Pomfrey came onto the ward with Harry's morning Potions and asked where Harry was, that they actually realised what had happened and once again sent out a search party for the missing boy, each adult fully blaming themselves for the situation they now found themselves in.

* * *

Harry walked right out of the hospital wing and treaded the familiar path to the kitchens, Ice was wrapped around his wrist, but Harry had accidentally left Forest behind. However he had no doubt that his very intelligent familiar would trace his scent and find him before he had even left the kitchens.

Outside the portrait of the bowl of fruit, Harry braced himself for the impending shrieks and screams that would come forth immediately when he pushed open the door.

He stretched out his fingers and run them gently down the middle of the pear, it let out a high-pitched squeak and turned into a doorknob.

Harry gripped the newly formed handle, pushed the door open, and stepped inside amidst loud screeches of excitement.

Harry found himself laughing and even embracing a few of the more enthusiastic house elves.

"It feels great to come here again." he exclaimed to the happy elves.

In turn they squealed and began jumping around in joy. One of them, a male, turned to Harry.

"Can Tiddy be getting young Master anything sir?" he asked happiness thick in his voice.

"I was wondering if I could have breakfast here again, the food and company here is much better than that of the hospital wing."

It did not occur to Harry to lie to these little beings, he trusted them and that was more than what most people could say.

The house elves became even more ecstatic because they could sense his trust of them and they immediately set about his wishes.

"Of course young Master!" Tiddy screeched.

Harry was once again seated at the little table in the corner of the room and was immediately served with the most delicious looking food he could have imagined. And after two days of tasteless, unsweetened porridge anything was a godsend.

Harry ate slowly, savouring every last bite, who knew when he'd get to eat anything other than porridge or bland chicken broth again?

Once Harry had finished he lay back against his chair and allowed himself to relax, he watched as Dotty took his plate away and Crinkle wiped the table.

"Young Master? Tibby is having your snake sir."

Harry looked to the female house elf that was levitating Forest onto the table in front of him. He smiled and stroked Forest whilst exclaiming how sorry he was for leaving him. He turned back to the little house elf.

"Thank you Tibby, are you by any chance a relation of Tiddy?"

"Oh yes young Master, Tiddy is Tibby's brother sir." she told him with a smile.

Harry smiled at her and once again wished he had a brother or sister.

"I thought you might be, you two look similar, I'm glad you both got a job together, it would be a shame if you had to be split up."

All of the house elves squealed and Harry smiled. He stood up and stretched. He was feeling oddly restless, although after being as inactive for as long as he had it was unsurprising his body was begging for some sort of physical release.

"Is there a way out into the grounds from here? Or do I have to walk back up to the entrance hall?" he asked the room at large.

The house elves looked at each other as though debating whether or not to let him in on a very big secret.

They seemed to have reached a decision in a matter of minutes, one of the older house elves stood forward.

"There is a way young Master, but students are not normally knowing of It." he whispered, his eyes completely focused on the door as if expecting someone to come barrelling in yelling 'Ah ha!'

Harry's curiosity was piqued, he was excited and eager to explore like he had wanted to do since he first heard of the size of the castle and grounds and to know secret passageways that other students didn't made him feel special.

"All young Master has to do is go to the portrait of the woods further up this corridor, blow on the portrait and it will turn into a tunnel, follow the tunnel and it will lead young Master behind the disused greenhouses."

Harry was literally bouncing on the balls of his feet he was so excited. He gathered Forest and Ice up, impatiently waiting for them to curl around his waist and wrist, before bounding out of the room with a happy squeal of thanks yous over his shoulder to the amused house elves.

Harry bounced all the way up the corridor his eyes sharp and scanning the walls for the portrait of the woods, all thoughts of his illness pushed to the back of his mind, his body wasn't complaining over the movement so why should he?

He let out a triumphant sound as he spotted the portrait near the corridor floor, it came up to his knees. The portrait wasn't overly large and easily missed by those who weren't looking for it, but it was beautiful, expertly painted to depict a small gathering of trees in what looked like summer, there was nothing in the portrait, just trees, no animals, no flowers, no people just abnormally still trees. It looked rather like a muggle portrait, it was just so still and so quiet, definitely not like the other portraits Harry had encountered.

Harry took an accurate guess that this secret passageway wasn't told to the students because by the looks of it, it was designed for house elf usage.

Harry did as the house elves had told him to, softly blew on the portrait, and watched as the trees started swaying as if a gentle breeze had just swept across the landscape.

He giggled and watched in awe as the portrait turned into a small hole. He giggled again as he lowered himself down and crawled into the earthy cavern. He conjured a ball of light so his fear of the dark wouldn't push him into a panic attack and started crawling upwards.

'Well it would be going up' Harry thought to himself. 'The kitchen corridor is underground and I want to get to ground level, so it obviously has to slant upwards'

Harry giggled, crawling faster as adrenaline poured into his muscles.

'Caution!' Harry slowed down as this word rang through his thoughts, doubt settled into the corners of his mind as he realised the danger of what he was doing. He didn't even know what was on the outside of this tunnel!

Breathing in deeply Harry contemplated going back and using the main doors.

"_Master? Why have you stopped?"_

Harry looked at his wrist where Ice was situated, she was so small, so delicate, still injured, so _defenceless_. Harry immediately felt like he had betrayed her, like he had let her down. Here he was throwing himself into a possibly dangerous situation and not even thinking of the consequences! What if this expedition had hurt Ice further? What if it injured Forest? Or worse, killed one, or even both of them?!

Harry looked at his larger familiar, who was staring unblinkingly at him, as if he _knew_ exactly what Harry was thinking.

"_What do I do?" _he asked, seeking wisdom from a reliable source.

"_Whatever you want to do."_ came the predictably helpful reply.

Harry sighed and knew better than to beg Forest to make the decision for him.

'Keep going or go back. Keep going. Go back.'

Harry was completely still, his mantra going on and on inside his head like a war chant. Finally he made his decision and with it firmly in his mind he started crawling towards the unknown destination.

* * *

Sirius was happily sleeping in his warm cosy bed, until someone screamed in his ear. He sat bolt upright and looked around groggily.

"Get up now Sirius!" someone screamed yet again.

"Why?" he mumbled back, head already halfway back to his pillow.

"Harry's missing!"

He bolted upright again and threw the covers from his body. He took in the slightly blurred world around him and managed to make out his clothes pile. He noticed the distressed tone of voice the person yelling at him used and felt his gut clench in fear and anticipation.

"Wa' 'Appened?!" he managed to get out of his mouth as he forced his jumper over his head.

"Snape insulted him and he ran off!"

Sirius growled as he came face to face with his best friend James.

"Snivellus is going to pay!" he raged to his distraught friend.

"But Lily…"

"Wont know a thing about it! It will be our secret revenge James, our revenge for Harry."

James' face split into an evil grin as he clapped Sirius on the back.

"Sometimes." he said in an awed tone. "I love the Sirius way of thinking."

They both quickly exited the hospital wing and went on the hunt for Harry, plotting 'Harry's' revenge as they went.

* * *

Harry sneezed yet again as the dust he was kicking up irritated his nose. He had been crawling now for a few minutes, no more than two when he finally came to the end of the tunnel. He touched the blockage in front of him and it felt funnily enough like tree bark. The blockage moved easily and noiselessly at the slightest touch of his fingertips.

Harry hesitated at the opening and drew in a shaky breath, this would be the first time he had been out and free to explore and enjoy the fresh air around him in over a month. Forest tightened himself around Harry's waist reminding him that he wasn't alone, not anymore.

Harry let out his breath as he felt a breeze caress his face and lift his hair. He breathed in deeply again and then crawled out of the tunnel. He looked back and saw to his amazement that he had just crawled out of a tree! The entrance to the tunnel situated at its roots! He was on the borders of the Forbidden Forest down by the greenhouses.

Harry let out a little laugh at least he'd never be late for Herbology again if he forgot about time in the kitchens, it took a little over three minutes to get here from the kitchens and if he was rushing he was sure he could do it in a minute. That was much better than the fifteen it would take to run from the kitchens, through the entrance hall and then down to the greenhouses.

Harry closed the entrance to the tunnel and realized that the tree bark was a lighter brown than all of the other trees surrounding it, he was sure he would easily find it again.

Grinning like a Cheshire cat Harry set of around the borders of the forest memorising the scenery and enjoying the fresh air. He walked all the way around the Forbidden Forest and he found it opened up to the Black Lake, on the other side of the lake was the front doors to the castle, he must have walked all the way around Hogwarts from the greenhouses without realising it. The soft and light conversation he held with Forest and Ice combined with the freedom of the outdoors he had just completely forgotten the time. Not that it mattered much, he wasn't feeling hungry or sick, just happy and contented. Although he did think it was time for a rest, he knew not to push his body to its absolute limits or he'd be in that infernal hospital wing from now until Christmas!

He found a small alcove of trees, lay down in the soft grass, and watched as Forest attempted to guide Ice through the basics of stealth training.

"_Master? May I take the little one in to the forest to fully practise her skills?"_

Harry frowned and thought about it, he knew Forest would look after Ice and protect her with his life, but he didn't want to let them go, he didn't want to be on his own, what if something happened? If someone came by? Shaking his head he grit his teeth, the world did NOT revolve around him and his wish's and wants! Ice needed to learn these skills in order to survive! He couldn't have his familiars around him all day, everyday, he needed to learn how to protect himself and not lean on the protection of Forest and Ice all the time.

"_Of course, just don't go too far away alright? Ice watch your wound okay, it's still healing. And look after each other!" _

Both of them inclined their heads in acceptance and slithered off into the shadows of the trees. Harry watched them long after they had disappeared from his sight. He sighed and lay back down stretching his muscles in the grass, he nuzzled his nose into it and breathed in the scent. He loved the freedom of being outside, he was normally too afraid to go outside let alone stay out, but here, here he felt safe, his parents were here! His family! His familiars! All of the staff and his housemates. Yes he felt quite safe, well at least safe enough to head out into the grounds and stay there.

"Potter?"

Harry's eyes widened in shock as he recognized that voice, he spun around and met platinum hair and silver eyes. His heart hammered against his ribs in absolute fear as he took in the scene before him.

Draco Malfoy was gracefully leaning against one of the trees closest to him, a smirk plastered to his face as he leered down at Harry who was laying, defenceless, at his feet.

* * *

Chapter Eleven and 85,000 hits on this fic so far! And 395 reviews! Seriously, that's amazing to me. The next chapter will be up when my connection stays on long enough to post it. Thanks for reading and reviewing. StarLight Massacre. X


	12. Day of Apologies

A/N: I have good news! Whilst I haven't completely given up work, my hours have been slashed from five nights a week to four! This means more time to spend on writing, aren't you all lucky.

I am well aware I haven't updated in a while, I will make it up to you somehow.

Now I know a lot of you didn't like my last chapter as you have told me in your reviews, but I'm sorry to say you might like this one even less, many of you will probably never read this fic again after this chapter. For this I am truly regretful.

_Last time_

_Harry__'__s eyes widened in shock as he recognized that voice, he spun around and met platinum hair and silver eyes. His heart hammered against his ribs in absolute fear as he took in the scene before him. _

_Draco Malfoy was gracefully leaning against one of the trees closest to him, a smirk plastered to his face as he leered down at Harry who was laying, defenceless, at his feet._

Chapter Eleven - Day of Punishment and Apologies.

James searched high and low for his missing son, he had searched the entire of Hogwarts in the two hours that Harry had been missing, occasionally passing Lily, Sirius or Remus (He and Sirius were convinced that Snape was just lurking around the corridors like an overgrown bat and not actually helping.) stopping only long enough to confirm that none of them had seen Harry yet.

They were all getting desperate now, Harry was sick! He should not have been out of the hospital wing and it was their fault he had left, although Sirius and James blamed Snape more than they blamed themselves.

James growled, threw his hands up in the air in frustration, smacked his head forcibly against the nearest stone wall, and collapsed against the window. He looked out and instead of seeing the inspiration he was searching for, he saw his baby Harry! He saw his little son! Outside with Draco Malfoy towering over him!

* * *

"Aren't you meant to be in the hospital wing Potter? Weren't you supposed to be too ill to move or something of the sort?"

Harry swallowed visibly as the taller boy's gaze ran the full length of his tiny body, assessing every inch of it.

"Well?"

Harry looked up and emerald locked with silver. He fought valiantly for control over his breathing, heartbeat and emotions, but at the moment, he was loosing.

"I…I…"

Harry swallowed again and closed his eyes tightly. He never saw the hard look in Draco's eyes flicker for a moment.

"Potter! I'm not here to hurt you!"

Harry's eyes snapped open and read the sincerity in the silver eyes.

"But…?"

"Yes, yes I know, I hurt you before, but trust me I paid for it dearly. Not only did my own Father send me, a Malfoy! A howler, of all things, in the middle of breakfast, but I also lost my house one hundred points, I got three months worth of detention, several different teachers as well as the Headmaster and my own Godfather yelling at me and I'm on probation! If that's not punishment enough I don't know what is!"

Both of the boys fell silent for a while lost in their own thoughts until Harry broke it with a barely audible sentence.

"You really hurt me."

Draco looked down at the boy that was still lying at his feet and sighed; he sat down on the grass and lay down next to Potter.

"I know I did and I'm sorry, really I am truly sorry, I didn't even realise what I was doing until I put you in the hospital wing! I never meant for it to go so far, it's just when I get angry or jealous I can't stop myself, it's like someone else takes over, I…I can't explain it! I know what I'm doing; I just can't stop myself from doing it!"

"Have you tried anger management lessons?"

"I…no, do you think it would help?"

"It might, if you learnt to control your anger better you in turn could control your outbursts."

"What are anger management lessons?"

"Some people find that meditation is the best form of anger management, they find a quiet secluded spot in their mind to release their outbursts into, and that way they vent their frustrations and anger, without hurting themselves or other people in the process."

"How? How do they do that?"

"How do people meditate?"

At Draco's nod Harry's smiled and sat up, it was unnerving that this same boy had caused him so much physical pain. Yet he really didn't mind helping him, he accepted his apology with grace and now that he knew the reason behind the attack he found that he really didn't care, after all, Ron and Hermione had bruised his ribs and his upper arms when they kept elbowing and jabbing him. They didn't mean to hurt him and now Draco was saying that he hadn't meant it either, what was the difference? After all, hadn't he hurt Draco first? Hadn't he thrown him from a stool and into a stone wall? That must have hurt, but again he hadn't meant to do it. They were all on even footing now.

"I believe the Potions Master knows, I was going to see if he'd help me learn it as well, but it has something to do with sitting down in a relaxed stance and just thinking of nothing or concentrating on a single thought, allowing your body calm down."

"I guess I'll ask him, but why do _you_ need anger management lessons?"

Harry chuckled a bit. "I don't, I need to learn to empty my mind for other reasons."

Draco looked across at him for a few silent moments.

"You know, for a runty Gryffindor, you're not half bad Potter."

Harry made a noise of acknowledgement and sent a smile to Draco.

"And for the Ice Prince of Slytherin, you're not half bad either."

"Ice Prince? Is that what they call me?" he asked in some disdain.

Harry nodded his head and tried to figure out why this news would disgust the Slytherin.

"Well I better be going, trying to find Severus is like trying to find a specific speck of dust." the blonde shook his head and stood up.

"Try the hospital wing, he's normally always there."

Draco just gave him a weird look and nodded his head.

"Thanks Potter, see you around."

Harry inclined his head. "Same to you Malfoy, same to you."

Draco sent a small smirk to Harry before turning around and walking back towards the school.

Harry let out the small breath that he was unaware he was holding and found his body slowly relaxing the further away Draco got, they may have just made a shaky foundation between the both of them, but Harry still wasn't sure of Draco's motives. Was he really repentant for what he had done? Why was he? What about when he had tripped him in Potions? If he was sorry, why had he done that? What had changed his mind? Or was it _someone,_ who had changed his mind for him? If so, why had they done so?

There were so many questions to ask and before Harry had them all answered to his standards a friendship, however small, was out of the question.

Harry sighed, it was too difficult to find a motive in the jumbled mass that Draco Malfoy had left behind, he'd have to wait for a bit to see what happened, but one thing was certain, he'd have to stay on guard at all times!

"_Master?"_

Harry turned towards his familiars and sent them both a smile.

"_Hello you two, how was hunting practise?"_

"_Tiresome." _Forest snapped sending a small glare towards Ice.

Ice hissed at him before slithering over to Harry and wrapping herself firmly around his wrist.

Harry shook his head, smiling.

"_What do you two want to do? Do you want to stay out here for a bit? Or head back to the castle? I'm sure if we do the latter however, we'll be caught and sent back to the hospital wing, quicker than we can blink."_

"_Why don't you explore the castle? I could train you in stealth as we go along. If you get caught then we obviously need to give you more stealth training."_

Harry rolled his eyes at Forest, but nodded his head none the less and treaded the same path that Draco had taken, right to the front doors of Hogwarts.

"_Can you tell if there is anyone inside the doors? It would be a shame if our training was cut short because I ran into someone on the other side of the front doors."_

Forests forked tongue flickered out rapidly, tasting the air surrounding them.

"_From what I can sense there are only three young humans beyond this door and they are quite far away. You should be able to sneak inside and slip past them. This shall be your starter test. Get by the three humans without being seen or heard."_

Harry nodded his head and, as silently as he could, sidled around the open front doors and into the entrance hall.

The three people Forest had sensed were lounging against the far wall of the entrance hall, they were first year Hufflepuffs. Two males and one female, if he remembered correctly their names were Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchly.

Hannah seemed like a nice girl, she was quiet and shy, Justin was an unknown, Harry hadn't had anytime to assess him yet, after all he had been taken to the hospital wing on his second day into Hogwarts! And he hadn't had enough time to properly look at the other boy, he didn't seem too bad though, but Harry was sure that given half a chance Macmillan would sell him out to the nearest teacher available. He seemed like the type to do so, cowardly, over-enthusiastic, overly pompous and too eager to please those in authority. No Harry did not like the blonde, stout, Hufflepuff boy.

As surreptitiously as he could, Harry moved around the edge of the hall, sticking to the shadows and crouching low.

At one point he thought he saw Hannah's eyes flicker towards him, but he crouched low in a shadow concealed alcove and Justin caught her attention again easily. He made it to the marble staircase and slid up them like fluid. He was now on the first floor, it was deserted.

* * *

James had gone the quickest route towards the shoreline that he had seen Harry at and reached it in record time, to see that neither Harry nor Malfoy were there! He screamed in vexation and slammed his fist into a nearby tree. He had been so close! So goddamned close!

Hs head shot up, what if Malfoy had done something to Harry? Had taken him somewhere? Had dragged him into the forest? He snapped his head towards the Forbidden Forest and stared into its depths, there was no way he could search the entire forest on his own, he needed help.

He sent his patronus to Lily, Sirius and Remus and hoped against hope they were near. If Harry was with Malfoy there was no telling what the blonde would do to his tiny son and if Harry was in the forest, he would need them and he would need them as soon as possible!

* * *

Harry spotted his Uncle Remus and his Mother and quickly dived into an alcove, they never came into his corridor however, they ran right past it, talking loudly about getting as quickly as they could to the forest to 'save' Harry.

Harry himself burst out laughing, they were going to save him when he wasn't even outside! Then he stopped, had they seen him through a window talking to Malfoy? Was Malfoy going to be in trouble for this?

"_Master! Pay attention!"_

Harry started and looked at Forest, then scanned his surroundings, there were footsteps coming from behind him!

Harry moved again, he slipped down the corridor and then climbed another set of stairs. The second floor wasn't as deserted as the first, he was going to have to be incredibly careful, there were mainly older students on this level.

* * *

Sirius was the last to arrive at the forest, as an explanation he told them that he was on the seventh floor on the opposite side of the school to the forest.

Severus sneered, he had been dragged down here by Lily when she had past him because the oaf Potter had 'forgotten' to send a patronus to him.

"What's all this about James?! Were meant to be finding Harry!"

"We are finding Harry! I was on the fifth floor and I looked out the window and saw Harry laying right here! Malfoy was standing over him so I rushed down here to find the both of them gone! I sent the patronus to bring you all here so we can search the grounds for them!"

"A wonderful idea Potter, but what if the boys are not in the grounds any longer?" Severus drawled.

"Snape what part of I saw them both here don't you understand! I saw them here not fifteen minutes ago!"

"Yes, but I saw and spoke to Mister Malfoy five minutes ago inside the castle just before I walked into Lily and Lupin."

James gaped like a fish.

"So much for that theory Potter, I assure you Draco was very much alone when he spoke to me."

"He must have done something to Harry!"

"In the ten minutes it took for you to get down here? When he explicitly told me he had been looking for me for over five minutes before he found me."

"He was lying then! He must have done something to Harry!"

"You know as well as anyone that I know when someone is lying directly to me. Draco was not lying!"

"Where could Harry have gone?" Lily asked, breaking the tension silence that had fallen amongst the group.

"If Draco was with Harry, then doesn't it make sense to _ask_ Mister Malfoy where he last saw the boy."

"Good idea Sev! Where was Draco when he ran it to you?" Lily asked.

"We were on the third floor, Draco was entertaining the thoughts of going to the library to complete an essay."

With that the five ran off towards the library, not knowing they were going to meet the very person they were hunting.

* * *

Harry slid through a portrait that had opened to him the moment he had whispered 'dear god!' Near it. Apparently that was the password to open the secret passageway! He conjured his light ball and let it drift ahead of him, fear lay heavy in his heart as he saw the dusty passageway, it looked like it hadn't been walked through in hundreds of years!

He was going to turn back when he heard his Father's voice in the next corridor!

He immediately vaulted into the passageway and closed the portrait behind him. He stood up and found that his head was an inch from the rough stone ceiling. He gulped. This passageway looked to have been built for him! The stone sides were just wide enough for him to slip down without brushing his sides. The aura the passageway was giving off was one of comfort and safety. All in all, Harry thought it was very weird.

He jumped when his Father's voice seemed right outside the portrait! Harry stealthily began walking down the passageway, following his ball of light, smiling slightly as Forest squeezed his waist and Ice tightened on his wrist in silent encouragement.

* * *

Draco Malfoy sat in the library, in a secluded corner, studying. He had to try and beat the Mudblood Granger in something! His pride wouldn't demand anything less.

He heard a scraping sound coming from behind him and he turned only to gape in shock.

Potter, who he had left outside not fifteen minutes ago, was stumbling out of a portrait of a stack of books, covered from head to foot in dust and giggling manically!

Draco could do nothing less than gape. He tried several times to speak, but nothing came out of his mouth.

Harry noticed him just then and his expression turned to one that could only be explained as a deer caught in the headlights.

"Umm…hello Draco." he ventured.

Draco opened and closed his mouth multiple times before Harry's giggling snapped him out of it.

"How the hell did you do that?!"

Harry looked at him a bright smile on his face.

"There are hundreds of secret passageways in this school, I guess this one leads to the library. Good really to have an access to it from the second floor."

"You…you came from the second floor! Potter were on the fifth now!"

"I know, great isn't it?"

Draco gaped at the weird little boy in front of him. Then he chuckled. Potter just looked adorable with his wide green eyes and his bright smile. He sort of reminded Draco of a kitten. He chuckled again.

"So what are you doing Draco? I thought you were going to look for Potions Master Snape?"

"Huh? Oh I found him, he said he'd teach me and that he is glad I'm finally getting some help for my over jealous and angry nature."

Harry just grinned, grabbed a random book from the highest point of the shelf he could reach, pulled out a chair and slumped into it.

Draco shook his head at the boy before going back to his studies. Five minutes later he heard his name being shouted down each aisle.

He slammed his book closed and went to see what his Godfather could possibly want with him.

"You called?" he replied to the insistent shouting of his name, he was surprised to see his Godfather in the presence of Potter Sr, Black, Lupin and Mrs Potter.

"Draco, you were seen with Harry Potter in the grounds near the lake, what happened to him after you left?"

"I don't know, if I left I obviously wasn't there to see what happened."

"Did you or did you not harm Potter whilst with him?"

"What?! No!" He cried, shocked and outraged to be charged with hurting Harry again, whilst on probation! He would not be so stupid as to risk loosing his place in Hogwarts for hitting someone he now called a friend!

"So Potter was still by the forest and lake when you left him?"

"Yes, he was still laying on the ground when I left to find you."

"I don't believe you! What did you do to my son?!"

Draco looked at the man that looked so much like Harry, yet was nothing like the small boy he had enjoyed the company of.

"I have done nothing to him since the incident on the train which I apologized for and the incident in potions!"

"Incidentally, I was never told why you tripped Mister Potter in Potions."

Draco looked at his Godfather and sighed.

"Jealousy." he replied. "I saw how you were silently praising him and I didn't like that he was getting more recognition than me."

Severus sighed, he knew his Godson had a jealousy problem and knew he had anger management problems, he just never knew how deeply they ran. He was so glad the boy was seeking his help for it.

"So you have not seen Harry since you met him by the lake?"

"Oh, I never said that." Draco answered.

"So you have seen him! What did you do to him?!"

Draco growled in frustration.

"Get it through your thick skulls, I never did anything to him!"

"When did you see him?!"

"Just now, I was talking to him before I heard you calling my name."

"Was he alright?! Did he look okay?!"

Draco looked at Lily Potter in confusion.

"Yes, he was fine."

Harry took that opportunity to appear at the blonde's shoulder. Lily had to smother a scream, he was covered in layers of dust and cobwebs! It looked like he had aged fifty years!

He noticed them and squeaked.

"Umm…hello." Harry whispered, respectful that he was in a library.

Lily let out a little scream and pulled Harry into a bone breaking hug, Harry screamed loudly in return and twisted and squirmed until he was out of her grasp and sank to the floor, crying insistently.

Lily looked ashamed of herself, she had momentarily forgotten that Harry was afraid of things like that, she had just been so worried when he had gone missing, they hadn't seen hide nor hair of him since he walked out of the hospital wing.

Draco was in shock, why did Potter respond to his Mother like that. What had she done? Had she hurt him?

"Oh Harry baby, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!" she wailed, but the moment she go close to him he scooted away from her, still crying.

"Sev, please do something!" she begged, turning to the black clad man.

Severus sighed and crouched down in front of the terrified little boy, he slowly reached forward and pulled him into his arms and stood up with the shaking child.

Severus whispered quietly and soothingly into Harry's ear and looked at his Godson, he noticed the tell tale signs of jealously and rage filling the silver eyes.

Severus reached out, pulled Draco to his chest with his free arm, and held the boy tightly against him.

"Calm your rage and jealousy Dragon." he murmured almost inaudibly. "Harry needs this reassurance, in your heart you know you are being unreasonable."

Draco basked in the rare hug he received from his Godfather and calmed down under the man's touch. He felt the rage and jealousy ease out of his body and in its place shame and guilt crept in.

"'M sorry." he whispered back.

"It's alright Dragon. Remember, think before you act. Harry needs this reassurance, you may come to me anytime you need it as well."

Draco nodded then broke away from his Godfather and just looked at Harry. He saw the swirls of fear in his emerald green eyes, before the boy hiccupped cutely and closed them.

He felt awful, Harry was so afraid, but what was he afraid of? His Mother? He didn't seem to be afraid of Severus at any rate.

"Should we take him back to the hospital wing now?" Lily asked quietly a while later, after Harry had calmed down considerably.

"No!" Harry screamed, uncaring that they were still in the library as his panic flared back into life.

"Harry baby you need the hospital wing, you need more rest to recover, please!" Lily begged her son.

"No! I'm not going back there!"

"Harry, Bambi please, we just want you to be healthy." James attempted.

"No!"

"Be reasonable Pup." Sirius tried.

Harry twisted his body so violently that Severus had no choice but to let him go and Harry, with tears still coursing down his cheeks, actually went and stood behind Draco!

"I'm not going back to that place!" Harry whispered furiously.

"Harry…!"

"No!" Harry cut across James and darted quickly behind a bookshelf, when the adults and Draco arrived at the place behind the bookshelf, Harry, as well as his books and book bag, were gone without a trace.

* * *

Harry ran as quickly as he could through the secret passageway and came out onto the second floor, he ran all the way to Gryffindor tower, panted the password to the fat lady and burst into the common room. He immediately spotted bushy brown hair and went and collapsed down next to it.

"Harry?!" the owner of the bushy hair squealed in surprise.

"He…hey Hermione" Harry panted out.

"Oh my lord! What happened?! Aren't you meant to be in the hospital wing? Where are your parents? Have you been released? Are you hurt? Why are you covered in dust? Why were you running? Is someone chasing you? Is it Malfoy?!"

Harry just looked dazed at the onslaught of questions before breaking them down in his mind and replying.

"Nothing happened, I am meant to be in the hospital wing, my parents are, I think, in the library, no I haven't been released, no, I'm not hurt, I went crawling through a secret passageway, I was running to get away from said parents, no, no one is chasing me and no this has nothing to do with Draco."

Hermione giggled and Harry joined her. Before she became stern.

"Why are you here if you haven't been released from the hospital wing yet?"

"I can't stand the place Hermione! I've been there for two days! Two days! Do you know how boring that it? Do you know how many lessons I've missed? How much class and homework I have to make up? I am not spending another minute in that place!"

Hermione giggled and pulled a piece of parchment out of her bag.

"Here's all the essays you need to write, the titles, the lengths and when it needs to be handed in and to whom."

"Oh! Thank you Hermione you're a lifesaver! And here I was thinking I'd have to track down every single professor!"

Hermione rolled her eyes but accepted the small, simple hug Harry gave her. It was with the barest, minimal touch and lasted no longer than three seconds, but it still left Hermione blushing all the same.

Harry immediately set to work on the essays, only half listening to the chatter that Hermione was sprouting off, telling him everything that had happened in class and around the school since he had been in the hospital wing.

* * *

"Where the hell did he go?!" Sirius burst out after looking at the empty study space for a few seconds.

"Probably back down to the second floor." Draco replied packing his own stuff back into his book bag.

"What do you mean Draco?" Severus asked smoothly. "How could Mister Potter get down three floors in as many seconds?"

"Oh, he found a secret passageway or something, it's why he was covered in so much dust, apparently it leads from the second floor to right here, I assume he went back through it and is now currently on the second floor."

Stunned silence followed this revelation.

"Do you know where the entrance to this secret passageway is located?" Severus asked.

"Hmm? Oh, he came out of that portrait." Draco replied pointing to the portrait of the stack of books.

The adults went up to the portrait and started poking and prodding it and waving their wands in the vain hope that it would open. They were unsuccessful.

"Did Harry tell you the password for it?!" James burst out, rounding on Draco.

"He might have done, I can't seem to recall."

"Tell me you little brat!"

Draco, in true Malfoy fashion, simply raised an eyebrow, infuriating the man further.

"Draco! Did Mister Potter, or did he not give you the password to this passageway?!"

Draco sighed and looked at his Godfather.

"I suppose I have stalled you for long enough, Harry is bound to be safely in one of his hidey holes by now." Draco replied before smirking. "No, Harry never told me the password for the Portrait."

Black and Potter both looked like they would dearly love to strangle him, Draco noted in amusement, Mrs Potter looked saddened and worried, but Lupin and his Godfather both had equal expressions of disappointment.

Draco shrugged it off, he was trying to be a friend to Harry and no matter what the adults said, Harry desperately did not want to be around them at the moment.

Draco picked up his book bag and walked away, leaving the murderous glares and disappointed scowls behind, he had done what he had wanted to, he had helped Harry, even if it was to save him from the inevitable for a few hours.

In his mind, he and Harry had just become slightly closer in their friendship, Draco could still remember clearly when Harry had hid behind him for protection, he smirked, maybe soon they could actually have a proper friendship.

* * *

The adults that Draco had left behind were in different states of emotion, Lily was just really worried about Harry whilst Remus was trying to calm his inner wolf, that had sprang up the moment he had found out his Cub was lost.

Sirius and James were both angry whilst Severus was trying to understand exactly when Draco had turned the tables on them and had out Slytherined him! The biggest Slytherin of them all.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Draco is right, we played right into his hands and Harry is probably hiding as we stand here."

"How do we know he's hiding?" Lily asked tentatively.

"It took us five hours to even get a hint of where he was only this morning and it was only by chance we found him then, no I'm sure we wont be able to find him unless he wants to be found, he is a true Slytherin in that sense." Severus said before stalking out of the library his robes billowing out behind him.

The Marauders and Lily had no choice but to admit he was right, and it was with a heavy heart that they left and went back to their own private rooms, they never once thought to look in the simplest place for Harry, in fact Gryffindor tower was the last place they would expect him to be and all thoughts to check the Marauders map that Sirius, Remus and James still kept, never once crossed their minds.

* * *

Harry leant back in his comfy chair and stretched, making a pleasant mewling sound as his back cracked.

He was still in the common room, he had just finished his last essay and it was currently half ten at night, he was feeling very sleepy, but above everything else he was feeling guilty for running away from his family like he had.

They only had his health in mind as they had tried to make him go to the hospital wing. He just really didn't want to go there, he didn't want to spend another night there, he didn't want to spend another endless day doing absolutely nothing but staring at the hideous white walls and ceiling.

He desperately wanted to know where they were staying, he wanted to apologize to them, he couldn't get the looks of hurt out of his head, the hurt that he had caused them.

Making up his mind he slipped his trainers back on to his feet and walked to the portrait, uncaring that it was past curfew.

He slipped out into the corridor and spent the next half an hour hiding in shadows and slipping up and down corridors, hiding from ghosts and professors, whilst on the look out for one of his family members.

The doubt had started sinking in, what if they didn't want him anymore? What if they thought he was a brat just like _she_ had? Had he blown his only chance at happiness because he was scared of a white room?!

The tears had started falling, obscuring his vision, he was working himself up into a state and he knew he was, he just couldn't help it. He ran into something solid and screwed up his eyes in anticipation, expecting to hit the hard stone floor.

However the person he ran it to caught him before he fell and pulled him up into a hug, Harry for reasons unknown to him, wrapped his arms around this person's neck and his legs around their chest, still crying.

"Harry child, what is wrong?" came the smooth voice of his Potions professor.

Harry just cried harder and wrapped himself tighter around his professor. Severus was at a loss for what to do, so he started rubbing circles on the hysterical child's back.

"Tell me child, what has upset you?" he asked again gently.

"My parents don't want me anymore!" he wailed into Severus' shoulder. "After running away from them they won't want me anymore! They hate me!"

Severus was stunned, Harry thought his parents _hated _him?!

"Harry, your family certainly does _not_ hate you, in fact I shall take you to see them now."

"Bu…but what if they don't want to see me? After everything I've put them through."

"Trust me child, they will be only too glad if they see you."

Severus carried the feather light child back up to the sixth floor where the Marauder chambers were located. He stopped outside of a portrait of a full moon shinning on a bed of lilies and knocked twice upon it and stood back waiting, hugging the shivering child tightly.

Several long and tense moments later the portrait opened to reveal a half dressed Sirius Black, who had his eyes half shut and his mouth half open.

Severus thought it was worth coming here tonight just to see this. Sirius Black, who was well known for being well dressed and always on top form, so disorientated and groggy. It was like a very early Christmas present to Severus.

"Snape?! Wat you want?" the man slurred out.

Severus could have laughed at the sight, but he had a very distraught and over tired child to think about.

"I believe your Godson would like reassurance that you do not dislike him." Severus replied.

"Harry? 'Course I don't dislike him, he's my Godson! How dare you say I dislike him Snape!"

Severus cut off the rapidly angering man by holding up a hand to signal silence.

"It was Harry himself who claimed you disliked him Black, not me."

"But why? Why would he think that?!"

"I suggest you ask him yourself." Severus said unlatching Harry from his body and passing the small child to Black, he felt cold once Harry had left his arms.

Sirius was surprised when Snape pulled Harry from his front and handed him over, Harry was dressed all in black and with his black hair he hadn't noticed his Godson latched to the front of Snape's robes.

He cuddled Harry in his arms, the first time he had done so since Harry was a baby. He admitted he had missed doing so.

"I shall bid you good night." Severus said silkily and turned to leave. A small hand caught his sleeve and stopped him in his tracks, he turned back around and noted that the hand was attached to Harry's arm.

"Good night professor." he said in a cute, sleepy voice. "And thank you for your help and for bringing me here."

Severus felt some unknown emotion fill his heart as Harry said that sentence. He could almost feel _tears_ in his eyes! And Severus Snape does _not_ cry!

"It was my pleasure Harry." he replied in a calm voice, the exact opposite to what he was feeling inside.

Harry nodded with his eyes closed and snuggled into Sirius' bare chest. Severus left for the cold dungeons, whilst Sirius closed the portrait and cuddled Harry closer.

"Do you want me to go and get your Mum and Dad Harry?"

Harry was half way to sleep when this question came and he thought about how cosy he was in his Godfathers arms.

He shook his head surprising Sirius.

"Can I stay with you tonight?" he asked in a quiet voice, almost as if he were frightened of asking such a question.

Sirius' arms tightened around Harry and he changed directions, heading back to his own room.

"Of course you can Harry." he replied immediately and enthusiastically. "We'll talk more in the morning okay?"

"Mmm hmmm." was the only reply Harry gave before succumbing to the darkness of sleep.

Sirius lay his sleeping Godson on the king sized bed and after transfiguring his robes into pyjamas, he climbed in next to Harry and covered them both with the heavy duvet.

He smiled into the darkness when he felt Harry turn over and snuggle into his chest, he wrapped his arms around his precious Godson and fell asleep quickly, just glad that Harry was willing to let him touch him and that the boy was speaking to them again.

* * *

I believe this is the longest chapter I have given you in a while, I hope this makes up for the long time it took to update it.

I'd like to thank every single person who has read and/or reviewed this fic so far and I believe I am back on track with it.

I have seven new fic's to post, if I actually post them at all, some are previewed on my profile page, so if you're not too busy go and take a look.

Thanks to the four hundred and forty reviewers of this fic and to all those who have alerted or added this fic to their favourites.

Harry James Potter and the Power of a Prodigy has currently had 105,221 hits!

StarLight Massacre. xXx


	13. Day of Promises

Last time

_Sirius lay his sleeping Godson on the king sized bed and after transfiguring his robes into pyjamas, he climbed in next to Harry and covered them both with the heavy duvet. _

_He smiled into the darkness when he felt Harry turn over and snuggle into his chest, he wrapped his arms around his precious Godson and fell asleep quickly, just glad that Harry was willing to let him touch him and that the boy was speaking to them again._

Chapter Twelve - Day of Promises 

Sirius awoke to a tickling sensation on his nose; he scrunched it up in an attempt to relieve the itching body part. He was unsuccessful.

He heard a giggling sound coming from somewhere just below his head and his confused brain couldn't understand _why_ there would be giggling coming from his chest region.

The giggling got louder and the tickling was back, at first he thought it was one of James' morning pranks to wake him up, but then he opened his eyes and met a familiar pair of emerald green orbs looking at him.

He shot backwards in surprise before the events of last night flooded his mind; he let out a breath and smiled. He looked back at Harry only to find his Godson was curled in on himself, his shoulders hunched forward and he was looking at him with fear!

"No Harry! I'm not angry; I just forgot about what happened last night." Sirius explained quickly, damning his sleep fogged mind.

Harry looked up with hope shinning in his eyes and Sirius put up no resistance to them, he pulled Harry into his lap and cuddled him.

"I love you Harry, nothing will ever change that."

Harry didn't reply, instead he snuggled further into Sirius' embrace. He had spent his early childhood wishing he had someone whom he could love, but now he was older he was wary of using that word, that word could so easily lead to pain and heartbreak, as he knew only too well.

Sirius didn't know how long he sat there with Harry cuddled on his lap and frankly he didn't care, he had spent an entire night with his Godson and the boy hadn't once screamed, cried, lashed out or had a panic attack. This could only mean that things were improving and the night spent together had strengthened the Godfather/Godson bond they had.

Noise in the other rooms signalled James awakening, the banging and clashing meant that James had been forcibly awoken by Lily and he had tried to get revenge on her without putting his glasses on first.

James being awake meant that Lily and Remus were already up, awake and dressed. They were more than likely to finish laughing at James and move to sit in the common room and start chatting, waiting for James to get up so they could wake him up then go to breakfast.

"What's all that noise?"

Sirius started at the miniscule voice and looked down at his frightened Godson.

"That would be your Father waking up, noisy bugger isn't he?"

The fear left Harry's eyes and he giggled softly.

"Come on, we better get up as well, you have lessons to go to."

"Really?" Harry's entire face had lightened up and he hugged Sirius hard.

"Hey, what's the matter?"

"I get to go to lessons instead of the hospital wing!"

Sirius felt the bottom of his stomach drop; he had momentarily forgotten that Harry was still meant to be in the hospital wing.

He made an uncomfortable noise in the back of his throat and got up, he found clean robes and pulled them on, he tied his shoes on his feet and then grabbed his wand from the bedside table.

"Come on Har; let's go see your parents and Uncle Moony."

"Uhh, Uncle Siri?"

Sirius smiled at the nickname and felt his heart swell; he turned to look at his Godson's face, complete with put out expression.

"What's the matter?"

Harry gestured to himself and Sirius had to bite back a laugh, he had completely forgotten he needed to dress his Godson who was sitting on the bed in his cute, little pyjamas.

"Sor…sorry Har, I forgot you weren't dressed." Sirius said in between his laughter.

"I don't remember undressing" Harry said in a small voice.

"You didn't undress that's why; I transfigured your robes into pyjamas."

"Thank you Uncle Siri."

Sirius smiled and hugged Harry whilst waving his wand to dress Harry back into his school robes and then casting a cleansing charm on them both.

"Come on then duckie. Let's go say good morning to your Mum and Uncle Moony, from the sounds coming from the bathroom your Dad isn't in the common room yet."

Sirius took Harry's little hand in his own and led the way out of his bedroom and into the common room, he was right, Remus and Lily were sitting on the settee sniggering at the sounds coming from the bathroom.

"Good morning!" he cried loudly and cheerfully, watching in satisfaction as they both jumped out of their skins.

"Dear god Sirius! We thought you were still asleep! You don't normally get up until we throw several buckets of water over you!" Remus exclaimed, holding a hand to his heart.

"I had a reason to wake up on this glorious, wondrous day!" Sirius exclaimed back in an over exaggerated manner.

Remus and Lily were stunned, neither of them had known Sirius to ever wake up this early, let alone to be active and coherent, they didn't notice little Harry hiding behind Sirius' legs and holding his Godfather's hand.

"Oh and what reason would that be Padfoot?" Remus asked, slightly miffed that his werewolf hearing hadn't pick up Sirius being awake and behind him, he was too busy laughing with Lily about James.

"This!"

Was all Sirius said before pulling his hand forward, revealing Harry from behind his legs, giggling his heart out at Sirius' antics.

Remus and Lily were stunned; they couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that Sirius had been hiding Harry behind his legs of all things.

The distraction came in the form of James bouncing out of his and Lily's bedroom.

"Come on Moony! I want to go wake Padfoot up! Do you think we will be able to make him squeal this morning?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows and coughed. James looked towards him and went pale.

"Uhh, morning Sirius, how did you sleep?"

"I slept well James, how about you?" Sirius replied in a calm voice.

"Umm, yeh I slept well."

"Now what's this about waking me up and trying to make me squeal?"

"I…uhh, you know I didn't mean it Padfoot, you're very manly and uhh…not at all girly."

Sirius raised an eyebrow and smirked, he could feel Harry gripping the sides of his robes in his fists and he could hear him muffling his little giggles against the back of his legs.

"Really? You would do well to remember that next time James, imagine if tomorrow I'm up before you again and take my own revenge, after all I am the best Marauder here and I have the greatest Marauder who ever lived to help me."

James looked incredibly confused.

"The best Marauder who ever lived? Who? Moony? Moony wouldn't help you! He helps me!"

"Moony's good, but this Marauder is better than all of us."

"Who?!"

Sirius let out a feral grin, scooped Harry from his place behind his legs, and held him out.

"Why the only Marauder to have been taught by all of us!"

It was true, they had started Harry's Marauder training from the moment he was born, but there was only one problem, it would be impossible for Harry to remember that training! But James' mind didn't immediately pick up on that fact and he paled drastically.

"No…now Padfoot, let's not do anything rash." James almost begged.

Harry just giggled whilst Sirius let another feral grin spread across his face.

"Could you do it James? Could you prank your own son?" Sirius asked. "Could you imagine his little face as he realises you have betrayed him, that you have broken the Father/son rules that clearly state, thou shalt not prank your own son?"

Lily and Remus were stuffing their fists into their faces to try and stop themselves from laughing, Harry was laughing so hard he could barely breathe and Sirius was looking very serious, over the top of Harry's head, at an ashen faced James.

"Well James? Could you?" Sirius prompted after James just stood in the middle of the room looking like a gobsmacked fish.

"N…no." he replied, knowing very well that in his heart he wouldn't be able to bare seeing that look of betrayal upon Harry's little face.

"See Harry, that is how you take your Father down a peg." Sirius stage whispered to Harry, who broke down into more peals of laughter.

"As fun as this morning has been, I think a few questions are in order." Lily told the men as her laughter died down.

"What questions?" Sirius replied sitting on the settee and leaning Harry against him.

"Oh I don't know Sirius, how are you? What's the weather like today? What's for breakfast perhaps?" Lily replied in a false cheery voice.

"I think Lily would like to know why Harry is here. Or better yet how did he become unfortunate enough to land himself with you?" Remus asked, as Lily turned red in the face from anger, beside him.

"Oh Snivellus brought him here last night, I was the one who heard the knocking, so I was the one who answered the knocking, so I was the one who received Harry, see quite simple."

"Why would Snape have Harry in the first place?"

The four adults looked at Harry, who was happily leaning back into Sirius chest. Even though his eyes were closed he seemed to have known they were looking at him because he answered the unasked question.

"I wanted to find you last night to apologize for my behaviour, when I couldn't find you I panicked thinking you didn't want anything to do with me anymore, whilst I started having a panic attack I literally ran into Potions Master Snape and he calmed me down and brought me here."

"Harry, we would always want you." Lily told her son as she knelt on the floor in front of him. "We love you Harry and we always will, absolutely nothing will change that, you are our son, our child and we will always want you."

Harry let out a little sob and leant forward to hug his Mother.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking last night; I was just so upset when I couldn't find any of you!"

"It's okay sweetie."

Harry pulled back from his Mother and leant once more against Sirius. He felt contented in the man's arms.

"So Harry cub, tell me did Sirius hurt you at all? Did he dribble on you in the night? Or perhaps damage your ear drums with his snores?" Remus asked breaking the silence and lightening the mood.

Harry collapsed into laughter and tried several times to speak, but instead settled on shaking his head in the negative.

"No? Are you sure? He's famous for dribbling and he holds the record for most eardrums burst in one year."

Harry pushed his face into Sirius' robes, attempting in vain to quell his laughter, that was being muffled by the fabric.

Sirius sat crossed armed and pouting, looking very much like a petulant child. He huffed a couple of times before his stomach growled really loudly.

Harry's giggles increased and he pulled his head out of the black material to look at Sirius with bright, shinning eyes.

"I actually felt that!" he exclaimed.

"I think that's our cue to feed Padfoot, come on breakfast."

"Oh!"

Harry exclaimed jumping up suddenly, with a look of fear upon his face.

"Harry? What is it? What's wrong?"

"My book bag and stuff for today, it's still in my dorm!" he screamed almost in tears before he rushed out of the room, presumably to collect said missing items.

"But…why does he need his book bag when he's going to the hospital wing?"

Sirius cleared his throat and looked at his shoe, which he was scuffing across the ground.

"Sirius! What did you do?!" Lily raged.

"I…I well…I sort of…_forgot_ that Harry was staying in the hospital wing and I _might_ have said he had to go to classes today."

The three remaining Marauders just blinked before Lily found her voice.

"You did what?!" came the predictable explosion.

"Now Lily, let's not get upset, I mean he seems fine and I umm…well would you look at that! It's time for breakfast!"

Sirius dashed towards the portrait and burst out of it, he transformed into Padfoot and took off running in the direction for the Great Hall.

"I'm going to kill that dog when I get my hands on him!"

"Come on Lil's, I doubt one day in lessons will hurt him and if it does, I'll kill Sirius myself, deal?"

Lily huffed but agreed with her husband none the less and set off following Sirius to the Great Hall.

* * *

Harry ran all the way back to his dormitory and let out a triumphant noise as his body didn't protest to the use of so much energy. He clambered through the portrait hole and went straight up to his dormitory; all of the other boys were still asleep, well all of them except Neville who just bustled out of the bathroom.

"Morning Neville!" Harry cried cheerfully.

"Morning Harry, you've been let out of the hospital wing at last!"

"Yep! My Godfather said I could go to lessons today!"

"That's great news Harry, you going to breakfast now?"

"Yes, I just need to collect my things first."

Harry raced around the room packing all the books and parchment he needed into his bag, he carefully placed his homework assignments in between his books and lastly he ushered two sleepy snakes around his waist and wrist, all the while trying to direct Neville's attention to waking the other boys up so the boy wouldn't see his two familiars.

Finally he was ready and he breathed a sigh of relief, he was ready for lessons, he had his familiars back with him and he didn't feel the slightest bit ill from his excursions that morning.

He and Neville left the dormitory and headed for the common room, there they met up with an excited Hermione who squealed and hugged him hard.

"Morning Hermione!" Harry exclaimed hugging her back just as hard.

"Harry! You're actually coming to lessons?"

"Yes, my Godfather said I could this morning."

"Oh I have missed you in lessons! No one wants to sit next to me at all; they call me names and ignore me."

Harry sighed. "Ignore them all back Hermione, they aren't worth your time or effort."

"I have been, I've just been waiting for you to come back to lessons."

The three friends reached the Great Hall and walked in, they took their seats at the Gryffindor house table and began to eat, though Harry was a little out of sorts, he was used to eating at sixish, it was now eight and he would normally be well into his studies by now. However he did manage to eat a slice of wholemeal toast washed down with a glass of pumpkin juice.

"What lessons do we have today?" Neville asked shyly, he still hadn't gotten over the fact that he had friends.

"It's a Friday so we have Defence then Potions, then after break we have Herbology." Harry told the boy, stopping to take a sip of juice.

"Then its double charms after lunch." Hermione finished off with a smile.

"Wonderful, just what I need, Potions!" the round boy exclaimed in despair.

"What's wrong with Potions?" Harry asked, unable to grasp the concept of anyone hating the beauty of Potions.

"Professor Snape hates me!"

"Nah he doesn't, he just doesn't like showing his caring side."

"That's because he doesn't have one!"

"He does Neville, just try and ignore everything but the instructions on the board, read through them twice to make sure you have it right and focus, Potions is easy once you get into the right mind frame."

"I…okay I'll try."

Harry smiled at his friend and went back to scanning the hall, he caught Draco Malfoy's eye and smiled at the wink the blonde sent him, he found the person he was looking for, Justin finch-Fletchly. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't figure the boy out! One minute he seemed like a nice guy, the next he seemed like a horrible bully! Either way Harry's gut instinct was to stay well away from the Hufflepuff.

"Harry are you coming?!"

Harry looked up at Hermione who was standing and shouldering her backpack.

"Yeh sure." he replied before draining his glass of juice and swinging his own bag over his shoulder.

The three friends set off towards their first lesson of the day, neither one of them noticing the dark eyed glare that was sent after Harry's back.

* * *

I'd like to personally thank lunapia for being my 500th reviewer and helping me reach my goal of halfway to a thousand!

Thank you to all of my other reviewers and to those who have read my fic helping me to reach 123,854 hits!

StarLight Massacre XxX


	14. The Boggart and a Cock Fight

_A/N: I'd just like to clear it up that James, Sirius, Remus or Lily are NOT Professors at Hogwarts, after the 'disappearance' and assumed death of Harry they all slipped into depression. They received the help and counselling they needed whilst at Hogwarts and occasionally do things around the school, such as filling in a class if a teacher can't make it and helping to mark essays. _

_Lily helps Severus in the Potions lab and helps Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing, Remus helps Madam Pince in the library and helps in Defence Against the Dark Arts when he can, James, no matter how much he is afraid of the teacher, helps in Transfiguration and Sirius helps Hagrid with his game keeping duties and accompanies him to the Forbidden Forest. _

They have not been doing nothing all this time whilst Harry has been away, they each have their own goals and agendas and I apologize if I made it seem like they had just been sitting in the castle doing nothing for ten years.

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

"_Parseltongue"_

_Last Time_

_The three friends set off towards their first lesson of the day, neither one of them noticing the dark eyed glare that was sent after Harry__'__s back._

Chapter Thirteen - The Boggart and a Cock Fight.

Harry sighed contentedly as he relaxed back into his chair, the day had gone well, Defence Against the Dark Arts was still a joke, in Potions he and Hermione had brewed a perfect potion, Herbology passed without any incidents and Charms had been a lot of fun. He had only started feeling the tiniest bit ill near the end of Charms but the feeling had gone away almost immediately after he had taken the first bite of his dinner and after dinner he was feeling as right as rain.

Nothing could bring him down today; Professor Snape had even complimented his and Hermione's potion! Neville still had a hard time and Professor Snape still ridiculed him, but Neville's potion didn't explode at all and it was only twelve shades darker than it should have been. For Neville it was a vast improvement.

Harry, Hermione and Neville were sitting at a table in the Gryffindor common room doing their homework. Harry and Hermione were helping Neville with Potions and Defence, Neville was helping them with Herbology and Harry was helping the both of them with Charms.

"I still don't get this bit Harry." Neville said timidly, he still wasn't use to being friends with such a famous person, let alone asking him for help on homework.

"Which bit Nev?" Harry asked leaning over the table to look at Neville's Potions essay.

"I don't understand why we have to stir the potion counter clockwise seven times then clockwise four times."

"The potion needs to be stirred counter clockwise seven times to dilute the cherry sap and then clockwise to infuse the scarab powder with the bat saliva. If it was done the other way around or not stirred the correct amount of times the cherry sap would saturate the scarab powder, lump together with the litchi leaves and turn the entire potion into a useless mass of coloured liquid."

Neville nodded his head and with his tongue between his teeth, he wrote down what Harry had told him.

"I'm done!" Hermione cried out happily and placed her quill down.

Harry smiled at her infectious happiness and chuckled. He cracked his back and sighed happily, he leant back and observed his housemates, he had worked most of them out to a tee, but there were a few that still eluded him, the Weasley twins for one, he knew they were obviously pranksters and they enjoyed a laugh, but they showed a serious side as well. They weren't very studious, but their pranks were ingenious, well planned and well thought out. They seemed to be living hypocrites of themselves.

Harry shook his little head and brought his mind back to his friends just as Neville let out a triumphant yell that startled half of the students in the common room and brandished his essay around like sword. Harry laughed and pretended to cower away from the piece of parchment whilst covering his head with his arms.

"I did it! I actually did it!" he screeched happily.

"Well done Nev!" Harry cried patting his back.

Harry and Hermione shared an amused look and broke out in giggles. This day had been filled with random outbreaks of giggles from the two of them, the odd places included outside the door to the girls' bathroom, the queue for Potions, as they were leaving Herbology, halfway down the grand staircase, in the middle of Charms and part way through dinner. The funny thing was they weren't laughing at a joke or a funny look or face, they were quite literally laughing at nothing, they just shared a look with each other and burst out laughing, for no reason what so ever.

"Harry?!" a loud voice called in his ear.

Harry flinched and looked next to him to where Ron Weasley was muscling Hermione out of the way to sit next to him.

Harry raised his eyebrow at his actions, how could anyone, especially a boy, elbow a girl out of their way? He mentally assessed Hermione and came to the conclusion that she wasn't hurt, just ruffled and infuriated.

Harry looked back to Ron who seemed entirely unconcerned about the fact he may have hurt Hermione.

"Hermione are you alright?" Harry asked in light concern.

"I'm fine Harry." she replied breathing heavily through her nose, a sure sign that she was angry.

"So Harry, have you finished your Potions essay yet?" Ron asked in his loud, obnoxious voice.

"I have." Harry replied smoothly discreetly pushing said essay off the table and into his bag.

"Can I look at it?!"

"No of course you can't!" Hermione raged scandalized. "That's cheating! Cheating is against the school rules! You write your own essay, the three of us managed to do it on our own fine enough!"

"No one asked your opinion you bossy, little, know-it-all!" Ron shouted turning as red as his hair.

Before Harry or Neville could stop her or say a word Hermione burst out crying and fled to the girls dormitories.

Harry and Neville were shocked, but Harry was soon seeing red, how dare Ron make Hermione cry like that?! Who in the nine levels of hell did he think he was?! No man should ever make a woman cry like that! Never!

"Well at least that got _her_ away, so Harry can I see your essay?"

Harry just gaped at him and spluttered for a moment in rage.

"Of course you can't! Hermione was right! It is cheating and it is against school rules!"

"Oh come on! No ones going to know! I won't say anything I promise, no one will ever find out."

Harry marvelled at the boy's stupidity, did he really think Potions Master Snape wouldn't realise when two of his students' essays were exactly the same? That he wouldn't notice said essays being word for word replicas of each other?

Harry snorted, of course not, the man was incredibly perceptive, he had to be to be able to spot an explosion before it happened.

"I said no!" he hissed through gritted teeth.

"I thought I was your friend!"

Harry felt like laughing hysterically, he hadn't even _spoken_ to Ron since he had turned on him that day after Defence Against the Dark Arts, he hardly considered them friends and after what he had just said and done to Hermione he never would either.

"I'm sorry but I value Hermione as a friend more than I do you, my answer is still no."

Ron grasped at the pieces of parchment in front of Harry and scanned their titles; none of them were the Potions essay.

"May I ask as to what you are doing with _my_ homework?!" Harry asked softly, trying desperately to keep his cool.

Ron's fists clenched around the parchment.

"Stop it, you'll damage them!" Neville said bravely and within reason as well, some of his and Hermione's essays were clutched in Ron's clenched fists and they had all worked hard on them, but none more so than Neville.

"I just want to see the Potions essay, I'll fail otherwise! I'll loose Gryffindor points and get detention from Snape!"

"You're not seeing it! It's Friday! You have the whole weekend to write the essay!"

"Who the hell studies on the weekend?! Apart from know-it-all bookworms that is." he said glaring at the stairs that Hermione had disappeared up.

"That is it!" Harry raged gaining the attention of the whole common room, not that Harry noticed he was far too angry to care. His eyes flashed dangerously and flared with hidden fire, his cheeks were stained red in anger and his fists were balled up.

"How dare you talk about Hermione like that! She deserves more respect than you are giving her! She is a brilliant witch and I will not sit idly by as you bad mouth her, call her names and force her to run crying from the room! I am not showing you my homework essay and neither are Hermione and Neville! You have the whole weekend to write that essay so I suggest you start now! It is against school rules to copy homework and I will not break them for the likes of you!"

"Why do you like her so much?!" Ron yelled back. "She's just a bossy, know-it-all bookworm! You should be friends with me! I met you first! We were friends first! Not her, everything was going fine until she turned up looking for that damned toad! You should be clamouring to be my friend! I know more magic than that Muggleborn does! You should want to be learning it and I can help you!"

Harry felt his eyebrows rise to his hairline and he burst into a fit of giggles.

"You?!" he burst out. "You help me? You can't even write an essay without asking for help! As for clamouring to be your friend, I'm surprised you know such a word as clamouring and sorry but I don't make friends with horrible bullies that pick on girls for fun and as for knowing more magic than me? Yeh you probably do but that doesn't mean I can't catch up easily enough. But I really didn't take you for a blood purist, so Hermione's Muggleborn and you're a Pureblood, big deal, Hermione aces all of her homework and exceeds at every spell she casts, you on the other hand barely scrape an acceptable, Hermione told me all about your little accident in Transfiguration the other day, how is your arm by the way? She even went on to tell me that you berated everyone in the class who managed to cast the spell properly and called them all bookworms just because you couldn't cast the spell yourself, that really says a lot for Purebloods versus Muggleborns doesn't it? And another thing, Hermione isn't bossy, just because she knows the answers that you don't doesn't make her a know-it-all and just because she actually picks up a book and reads it doesn't make her a bookworm. After everything you have said and done I would never consider you as a friend, please be kind enough to leave me and my friends alone and go and make some of your own."

Harry turned around and made to sit back down, but before he could he felt something hit the back of his head, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a thick book land on the floor off to one side. He placed a hand to the back of his head and distantly heard the shouts of outrage from the surrounding Gryffindors of lowliness and cowardice.

Harry spun around whipped his wand out and cried 'Impedimenta' and blasted Ron halfway across the room.

The room stopped in shock, Harry, not that he knew it, had just successfully cast a fourth year spell with enough power for it to drive someone backwards.

"Never be as cowardly as to attack your opponent when their back is turned!" he hissed to the half conscious Ron. "The least you can do is have the decency to attack your opponent face to face!"

Harry snatched up his book bag, pushed all of his essays into it on top of Forest and Ice, swung it onto his back and left the common room. No one tried to stop him and he probably would have ignored them if they had, he was just so angry right now, he had never been this angry before, just where exactly did Ron get off hurting Hermione like that? Insinuating she was inferior because she was a Muggleborn! Belittling her because she read books and answered questions correctly in class! Calling her bossy when he didn't know her at all! Harry let out a hiss and felt his back muscles move closer together as he grew tenser.

Harry stormed down five floors and with every step he took felt his body become more wound up.

He hissed again and felt Forest and Ice moving restlessly against the small of his back.

"I'm going to kill him!" he burst out suddenly and almost jumped out of his skin as an amused voice replied to him.

"Kill who?"

Harry spun around and came face to chest with Draco Malfoy. He let out his breath and backed up a few paces.

"The red headed buffoon!" he ground out.

Draco raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Which one?"

"Weasley!" Harry hissed.

"Again, which one?" was the very amused reply.

"Ronnikins!"

"Ah Weasley number six. A right idiot there, no talent, no brains, no brawn, no magical gifts, no nothing. Seems all the good stuff was used up on his older brothers. What has he done?"

Harry blew out softly. "He kept badgering me for my Potions essay, he wanted to copy it as if Potions Master Snape wouldn't notice! He insulted Hermione and made her run of crying and I guess I lost it, I blew up at him and started yelling that he was a talent-less bully that didn't have anything better to do than to make girls cry and told him that I'd never consider him a friend. I turned my back on him to sit back down and he threw a book at the back of my head! That's when I really lost it, I cursed him halfway across the room and told him that he was a cowardly decadence that didn't have the courage to meet an opponent face to face."

Harry looked back at Draco and saw the look of awe in his face.

"What?"

"You actually said that?" he asked stunned and at Harry's nod whistled. "And you cursed the poor beggar?"

Again Harry nodded and Draco slung an arm casually over his shoulders as they walked.

"Harry my friend, you have just been knocked up a few pegs in my books. I can't believe you did that and in front of your housemates! I would have given a sack full of gold to have been there watching."

Harry sighed heavily, his heart was pounding in his chest with the close contact with Draco, he still couldn't stand anyone touching him for long periods of time and by that he meant more than a few seconds.

"I shouldn't have done it, I was just so angry after all of the things he said, I'm going to be in so much trouble!"

"Nah you wont, for a first year let alone a first time offender, not to mention the person all the teachers are singing about. Nah I'd say a couple house points and a warning at most."

"Really?" Harry asked with hope buried in his tone.

"'Course, would I lie to you Potter?"

"I don't know, would you?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders in a dismissive manner.

"No, I have no reason to lie to you."

"Good, because I'd never lie to you either."

Draco squeezed his shoulders whilst chuckling.

"Damn right you wouldn't. Well here's my stop, see you around Potter, oh and be careful curfew was five minutes ago."

Draco whispered a password to a bare stone wall and then walked through to his common room. Harry chuckled and turned around to exit the dungeons back up to the entrance hall. His walk and talk with Draco had calmed him down a lot.

He walked up the stairs to the sixth floor, but as he was about to go up to the seventh the staircase moved and he found himself on the seventh floor, on the opposite side of the school to the Fat Lady.

Harry sighed and resigned himself for a long walk, he hopped off the staircase and began his trek across the school.

Twenty minutes later he was tired and aching, if he was caught out of bed now he would be in serious trouble, he was out of bed half an hour after curfew and he had attacked another student all in the same day!

Harry blew out his breath and run a hand through his messy hair, it was too dark! Far too dark with no sunlight, no moonlight and a torch every six feet along the walls. Harry concentrated hard for a fraction of a second before his special light balls began to form in his hands, he lightly threw them both into the air and watched as they glided silently ahead of him.

Harry blinked and looked down from them and back to the corridor in front of him and felt his heart freeze in his chest and his breath stop short. He backed up a few steps, his eyes wide and fearful. He felt like he was drowning he couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs and he couldn't get his muscles to move.

Then the proof, the substantial proof that he wasn't having a hallucination came in the form of that haughty, silky voice that had haunted his nightmares for as long as he could remember.

"Hello again Harry dear."

----------------------------------------------

James was patrolling around the school tonight, Filius Flitwick had asked him to seeing as the little wizard had too much marking to do, so James had offered and now here he was on the sixth floor wishing he was in his cosy, warm, bed and snuggling up to his wonderful wife, but he wasn't he was in a cold corridor and his wife was lounging in their double bed enjoying the rare opportunity to sleep with all the space she wanted without fear of pushing her husband out of the bed.

James was just waiting for eleven o'clock when his shift ended and he could crawl into bed and fall asleep with his wife.

'An hour and half left to go' he thought sadly.

He had just started on the stairs to the seventh floor when he thought he heard voices up ahead, sighing at the prospect of apprehending someone and having to take them to their head of house, James started walking briskly to where he heard the voice. Then he stopped dead, he heard someone scream, loudly.

Forcing his legs to move he ran down the corridors following the panicked voice and the smooth one. He rounded the corner and found every parents nightmare.

His little Harry was pressed against the wall, his face was whiter than white, there was sweat and tears pouring down his face, his eyes were the size of saucers, his mouth open in a silent scream, James could practically hear Harry's heart pounding a tattoo against his chest and there bearing down on his son was a woman, she was an old woman but she gave off the aura of great energy and strength, she was a soft, nice looking woman and gave off a pleasant scent of soft petals and powder, she was wearing a plain, calf length, long sleeved, white dress covered by a starched white apron, she was wearing soft white shoes with white socks and she had shocking white hair, if James hadn't of seen the burning, brown eyes he would have thought her to be completely colourless.

The woman stepped closer and Harry found his voice and let a solid scream rip from his throat, James' heart skipped several beats as he watched the woman raise her hand and brandish a short, thin, metal pipe at Harry. It was in that moment his parental side made itself known, he ran the last couple of yards and snatched Harry from against the wall.

"Just who do you think you are?!" he demanded of the woman.

She didn't answer instead James watched in a trance as she bent in on herself and melted together and flooded into a puddle on the floor and then bubbled outwards and turned into a perfect replica of Harry laying dead on the floor with a giant dark green snake wrapped tightly around his little body.

It was in that instance that he understood what was going on completely. This wasn't Harry and it wasn't a woman either, it was a god damned Boggart!

Clutching Harry even closer he pulled out his wand and cried 'riddikulus' the snake turned into a soft toy and Boggart Harry was sound asleep clutching it. James waved his wand again and the Boggart disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Letting out a sigh of relief James turned his full attention to Harry, who's eyes were still as large as dinner plates, he was still sweating and crying and his mouth was still open in a silent scream.

"Harry? Harry love please talk to me." he coaxed, gently stroking Harry's soft little cheek.

Harry didn't move, he was as unresponsive as a stone statue. James sank to the floor cradling Harry in his lap.

"Harry baby? Please baby please speak to me. Please."

James kissed Harry's forehead whilst slipping his hand under his back pack and rubbing continuous, soothing, circles on his back. He felt Harry start to shake and quiver and it was his only warning before Harry latched his arms around his neck and broke down completely. James felt the wetness cover his neck and shoulder as Harry cried, but he couldn't bring himself to care and he concentrated solely on calming his baby boy down.

"That's it Harry, let it all out, everything is going to be alright. It was just a daft Boggart it can't hurt you anymore, it's gone."

Ten minutes of soothing, back rubbing, hair stroking and kisses Harry had calmed down and was now laying bonelessly against James' shoulder, hiccupping sweetly.

"It's alright Harry, I'm never going to let anything happen to you ever again, not if I can help it."

"Th…than…thank you dad." Harry whispered into his ear, sniffling.

James smiled despite the situation, he tightened his hold on Harry and held the small head against his shoulder.

"It's alright Harry, that's what I'm here for, to love and protect you and I swear I will always try my best to keep you safe, I'm never going to let you leave us again, never."

Harry smiled into his Father's shoulder and snuggled further into the man's warmth. He had been so afraid when _she_ had turned up, but his Father had come and saved him, he had made _her_ go away. He felt so relieved and so safe at the moment. His heart beat had returned to normal, the tears were drying on his cheeks and his stomach was no longer in his throat.

He tightened his grip on his Father as a yawn slipped from his mouth.

"Come on Harry, I'm not letting you out of my sight again tonight."

James eased himself up still keeping his tight hold on Harry and after giving a lingering kiss to his brow and cradling Harry gently in his arms he set of back to the Marauder's rooms. He was sure no one would mind if he bunked off the rest of his shift to look after his traumatised son.

Walking quickly down the stairs and navigating around the corridors he asked the one question that had been on his mind since he had came across the scene in the hallway.

"Harry? Who was that woman?"

A tremor ran through Harry's body and he knew his Father had felt it as the man gripped him tighter.

"Ca…can we n…not talk a…about this now?" he asked in a small voice, the fear and fatigue clearly discernable from the pleading and whimpering.

"Sure Harry, but we will talk about it tomorrow, alright sweetheart?"

Harry nodded his head in assent. The rest of the journey was made in comfortable silence and very soon they were standing outside of the portrait of a full moon and a glowing bed of lilies.

"Mischief managed." he stated clearly and the portrait swung open.

"Feel free to use that password Harry, these are as much your rooms as Gryffindor tower is, you will always be welcome here, if you ever need me or your Mum, Sirius or Remus, do not be afraid to use it, okay?" James asked softly, well aware that his friends and wife were sleeping.

Harry again could do little more than nod his head, he was so tired and his experience with the Boggart, the fight with Ron, it was all adding up and he felt like screaming and crying until it all went away.

James took Harry's backpack and placed it next to his bedside table, he then undressed Harry and then redressed him in a pair of soft pyjamas, Harry was so tired he didn't care, he knew he wouldn't have been able to do it himself and was grateful to his Father for having the integrity to see that.

James finished dressing Harry and placed him in the bed that held a softly sleeping Lily and watched as Harry crawled over to her and curled himself into her, he smiled gently at the sight before dressing himself in his pyjamas and sliding in the bed behind Harry. He caught Lily's hand in his and stroked the webbing in between her thumb and index finger. His smile grew when she mumbled and wrapped Harry in a tender hug still holding his hand.

James mentally run through the events of the day and after making sure Harry was soundly asleep he placed an arm under his son's neck, kissed his cheek one last time and slipped into sleep to join the rest of his beloved family.

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Chapter Thirteen and I hope it comes up to your standards. Remember if you have any questions just ask and I'll see what I can do to reply or clear up any misunderstandings.

StarLight Massacre. X


	15. Study Groups, Sugartooth Poppies and Two

_Last time_

_James mentally run through the events of the day and after making sure Harry was soundly asleep he placed an arm under his son's neck, kissed his cheek one last time and slipped into sleep to join the rest of his beloved family._

Chapter Thirteen - Study Groups, Sugartooth Poppies and Two New Friends.

When Lily woke up it was to a pair of brilliant emerald green eyes staring back at her, her brilliantly, emerald eyes. She started backwards a bit and took a deep breath calming her erratically beating heart, she reminded herself that she had her son back now and that she would have to get used to seeing her eyes in his beautiful, tiny, little face.

Once Lily had regained her bearings she looked again to the green eyes and saw her beloved son looking worriedly at her, one of her Husband's arms was wrapped around his waist and they were closely pressed against each other. Harry's back to James' chest.

"Oh! Oh Harry baby you scared me silly!" She smiled at him to show she was okay and that he wasn't in trouble.

"I'm sorry." He apologized anyway.

"It's okay sweetie. I didn't realise you were here, I must have slept soundly last night."

Harry smiled and tried to scoot over to her, but James' arm tightened around him and knocked his breath away with a soft 'oof'

"He's a bit possessive when he's sleeping, many times I've had to attempt to break his arms to make him let go of me."

Lily sighed, sat up and started pinching and twisting the skin on her Husband's arms to make him let go of their son.

He whined and mumbled a couple of sleepy 'ow's' before he let go of Harry's waist and his Wife and son slipped from the bed.

"I'm going to have a quick shower Harry, why don't you go and wake your Godfather up? You remember where his bedroom is don't you?"

Harry nodded his head and slipped from the room as his Mother slipped into the bathroom. Creaking open the door of his Godfather's room, Harry tiptoed to the man's bedside and poked the man that was laying on his side, deeply asleep, with a childlike fascination, he didn't even stir.

Harry tried shaking the man awake, it didn't work.

"Uncle Padfoot?"

The man hummed in his sleep and turned to his other side. Frowning in confusion Harry thought back to the books he had read on human behaviour and dreams.

"Uncle Padfoot?! Wake up!" Harry screamed in his ear.

Harry shook his head in slight annoyance, this went against everything he had read! The man shouldn't have been able to sleep through someone yelling in his ear! It just wasn't natural, it wasn't possible! Thinking hard Harry's mind drifted to coma patients, they sometimes woke up when something they remembered was triggered, would that notion work here?

"Uncle Padfoot? Uncle Remus slipped and broke his leg."

Harry waited, nothing, not even a murmur of concern.

Thinking hard, his eyes screwed up slightly, an idea came to him when he saw an elastic band, grinning Harry picked it up and, deliberately deciding not to ponder on why there was an elastic band in Hogwarts, or in his Godfather's room for that matter, he placed it between his right index finger and thumb and rested it on his Godfather's cheek, he plucked it with his left index finger and thumb, pulled it taut and then pulled it further so the band was back as far as possible and let go.

The resounding smack made Harry flinch and the shocked yell from Sirius made Harry back away. He slipped from the room whilst his Godfather was looking for the intruder. He stayed still and silent and after a few very tense moments he heard Sirius grumble and head towards the shower.

Harry made his way back to the sitting room and saw his Mother and Uncle Remus sitting on a settee with a bleary eyed James between them.

"Did you not have any luck with Sirius Harry?" His Mother asked gently already rising to chuck a bucket of water over the comatose man.

"Yes I did, he's in the shower now."

Lily blinked and even James lifted his head in surprise.

"You didn't throw water over him?"

"No, but I tried everything but, he is such a deep sleeper!"

"How? How did you wake him up?"

"Oh, I just snapped an elastic band on his cheek."

The three looked slightly shocked before James burst out laughing.

"I never thought to try that before!"

Harry smiled slightly, but in all honesty he was worried about his Godfather's reaction. Would the man not like him anymore for hurting him?

"Don't worry so much Harry, it will be alright. Once Sirius has some food in his stomach he'll see the funny side of it. Besides if snapping a rubber band on his face works half as well as you say, he'll have to get use to it." Lily stated firmly.

Harry giggled softly and nestled himself in-between his Father and his Uncle Remus and snuggled into the sandy haired man, hiding his head against his chest as Sirius emerged from his bedroom a red mark streaking his face.

He looked around then glared at James, starting towards the grinning man.

"You're going to pay for that Jamsie! Look at my face! You marked my beautiful face! How am I supposed to show myself now?!"

"Deal with it Padfoot, I'm sure no one will even notice!" James replied, winking at Harry when the eleven year old pulled his head from Remus' robes.

"Just because no one looks at your wrinkled face any longer doesn't mean I'm in the same boat!" Sirius snapped. "How could anyone not notice this?!"

Sirius gestured wildly at the red mark on his face, then threw his hands up in the air. The man spun around and looked at Harry when he failed to smother a giggle.

"You! You little monster, you're on my side aren't you?!" Sirius garbled leaning over the back of the settee and pulled the little boy from Remus' protective embrace.

Harry threw his skinny arms around his Godfather's neck and looked pleadingly towards his Mother.

"Sirius you put him down!" Lily said sternly, her hands fisted on her hips.

"What I can't hug my own Godson?"

"No! You put him down immediately, or do you not want to go to breakfast?"

Sirius put him down grumbling all the while about vindictive, Godson snatching, redheads. Harry sidled up to his Mother and hugged her in gratitude, her slender fingers running softly and slowly through his unruly hair.

"We're going to have to do something to this mop of yours Harry sweetie. I just can't deal with another Potter nest. I wonder if sleekeazys hair styling potion would work. Though it didn't for your Father's, hopefully yours will be more tamable than his."

Harry let his Mother ramble on about different potions and gels she could use to 'tame' his hair, whilst checking on Ice and Forest. He was thinking of getting two more and calling them Air and Fire. Though he didn't think his parents would approve, they only tolerated the snakes he had because he had had them before he had met them.

"_Master? Are you well again?"_

"_I am fine Forest, thank you. I had a scare last night, I never thought I would see that…that _woman _again. I had thought she was gone for good."_

"_We tried to help you Master, honestly we did, but we could not get out of the container you placed us in."_ Ice hissed, nudging his ear with her blunt little head.

"_My backpack Ice, I must have closed it too tightly, I'll make sure never to do it again. You must have felt so trapped."_

"_I never Master."_ Ice corrected. _"I slept most of the time away."_

"_I was slightly wary about being trapped, yet the worst time in the bag was when we could not reach you when you needed us Master."_

"_My Father found me, he saved me from the evil hag. I owe a lot to him, though I wonder what he did to her, I don't remember much past my own furiously beating heart and his soothing hands on my back."_

"_Neither of us know either Master, I suggest you ask him."_

"Harry honey? Are you ready for breakfast?"

Harry looked to his Mother and nodded his head, slightly wary about going back to the Great Hall that would be filled with a lot of people.

"You're going to breakfast in your pyjamas?" Sirius asked, a large grin on his face.

Harry looked down and saw, to his abject horror, that he was still dressed in the pyjamas his Father had placed him in last night. He blushed bright red and mumbled an apology, wringing the hem of the shirt between his fingers.

Lily glared at Sirius and James who were laughing hysterically, honestly! When were they going to grow up? She still remembered when Sirius had been so hungry he went down to breakfast in his lemon coloured boxer shorts and a dribble stained vest!

"You ignore them Harry, lets go find your uniform and get you dressed. We'll leave these jokers here to laugh it up, but whilst we are at it, why don't I tell you the very funny story of when your Father and Godfather wet themselves last year."

"No! Lily you promised you would never tell!" James exclaimed in dismay.

"Really? I can't seem to recall ever making such a promise, maybe telling our son the story might help me remember."

Lily sent one last glare to the males, before gently taking Harry's hand and pulling him back into her and James' bedroom. Here she handed him the robe he had taken off yesterday and cast a strong cleansing charm at it. She brushed his hair and sent him in the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face, all the whilst telling him the very amusing story. It seemed James and Sirius had had a water drinking competition and then went directly to dinner where the Weasley twins unexpectedly pulled a prank that sent them into peals of laughter. They both wet themselves not five minutes later.

"So you see Harry, never join in on one of your Father's or Godfather's pranks, jokes, bets or competitions, they always end in either embarrassment, injury or trouble."

Harry laughed and nodded his head towards his Mother.

"I wont, it seems much more fun to watch them rather than joining in."

"I knew you would always be a smart boy Harry. I am so very proud of you, though I am curious to know why you never tried to find us, did you not want to know us?"

Harry stopped and hugged his Mother tightly.

"I didn't know you were alive, I…I thought you were dead and that was why I was on my own. _She_ told me I had no living relatives and against my better judgement I believed her."

"She? Who is this 'she' Harry?"

"Someone I would rather forget." Harry replied lowly thinking of last night, he couldn't believe she had been here!

"There you are!" Sirius groused. "I was starting to think you had decided to take baths!"

"Just because you don't bathe Padfoot, doesn't mean no one else does." Remus cut in with a cheeky grin.

"I do so bathe!" Sirius countered. "Looking this good takes time and…"

"A lot of beauty potions." James cut in, finishing his sentence.

Sirius pounced on James and they began rolling around the floor like toddlers, Harry could hardly believe two adults could act like this, so childishly, so petulantly.

"Just ignore them Harry, they can be such babies sometimes!" Lily groaned, entirely too used to such behaviour from the man she married and his best friend.

Lily led Harry out of the room, with Remus following them. They chatted amicably all the way down to the hall, where Harry just stopped and stared wide eyed at the half opened doors. He remembered all too well how full the hall would be at this early in the morning.

"Come on Harry." His Uncle Remus coaxed. "I'm sure Hermione will be in here waiting for you, she must be quite worried about you."

Harry looked to the sandy haired man and nodded his head and steeled himself for what he was going to do, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, thinking all the time of Hermione and how worried she would have been after he didn't arrive back to the tower last night, nor showed up this morning.

He took the first step forward and after that he just kept moving, one foot in front of the other, he opened his eyes and quickly scanned for Hermione. He found her quickly, she was sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, her head down as the first and second years nearest to her jeered at her for sitting all on her own, yet the thing that struck him hardest was the concerned and anxious look upon her face.

He said goodbye to his Mother and Uncle and quickly made his way towards her, his peers fell silent as he approached, he slipped into a seat opposite Hermione and apparently startled her, as she gasped and her head shot up. Upon seeing him her expression turned to one of relief.

"I was so worried about you!" She hissed as the students around them tried to listen in on their conversation.

"I'm sorry, I met my Father last night and he took me back to my parents quarters, I didn't think you would worry so much or I would have left a note or something."

"Just don't scare me like that again!"

"Understood fair lady."

They both broke into grins and both started on breakfast as Hermione had been too anxious to eat anything.

"What homework are we going to do today?" Hermione asked a little while later.

"I was thinking about getting rid of the History of Magic assignment first, it is by far the most tedious, hopefully we can get rid of it by lunchtime and afterwards we need to do the Transfiguration essay and then those ten questions for Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"So that just leaves the Herbology practical for Sunday, we need to find a Sugartooth Poppy somewhere on the school grounds." Hermione confirmed.

"That shouldn't be too difficult, Sugartooth Poppies hate water and direct sunlight, so that rules out anywhere near the lake, we are not allowed in the Forbidden Forest either, so the only place out of direct sunlight is around the castle walls, or down by the gates. If we scout around both we should find them relatively easily."

Hermione nodded her head and took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"Where's Neville?" Harry asked.

"He went to send an owl to his Grandmother. We are inviting him to study with us again aren't we?"

"Of course." Harry said immediately, he rather liked Neville. "We'll start on the History assignment when he comes back."

"I heard about your fight with Ron, you didn't have to stand up for me, I know how much you hate violence."

"With all the fights I've gotten into in the few scant days I've been here, I'm surprised you drew that conclusion."

"Anyone can see you don't like violence, it shows in your eyes when you are in a confrontation. Your eyes are like an open book, very expressive, like now I can tell you are surprised."

Harry chuckled and shook his head.

"Only you Hermione, only you. But yes you are correct, I do hate violence, probably comes from living on my own with no one but a bunch of mild mannered librarians for company."

Hermione laughed and nodded her head.

"That is probably why you dislike violence and raised voices, am I correct?"

"You know you are Hermione. As I got older I never spent so long in the library, I normally just went in got another arm load of books and took them home again, I went from a place with nothing but hushed voices to a place of total and utter silence except for my own voice. As such I grew to love the peace and quiet. I think my Father and Godfather are disappointed at that."

"I don't think they are disappointed Harry, I think they are just worried. Most children our age would thrive in noise, mess, chaos and destruction."

"You and I are different though and so is Neville. We would rather sit down with a good book that make a mess."

"I am how I am because both of my parents work full time and I am an only child. I never had anyone to be messy and loud with. As such I fell into the fantasy worlds books provided."

"I grew up with my Grandmother." A small voice came from behind Harry, who turned to see Neville standing at his shoulder. "She is a very strict, but old woman. She couldn't play many physical games nor could she rough house. We mainly played wizarding board games and the only physical things I did were either by myself or when me and her would do gardening in the spring and summer."

"Hey Neville. Would you like to join our study group again? You are welcomed to." Harry greeted.

"I…you want me too? Honestly?"

"Of course we do, why are you so surprised? Don't you want to join us?"

"Yes! Yes I do, but I have never really had friends before. We are friends aren't we?"

"Yes we are Neville." Hermione said kindly but firmly. "And I have never had friends before either."

"Guess that makes three of us, I had never talked to anyone my own age before I came here, let alone make any friends."

"Well that settles it, we can all be outcasts together!" Hermione chirped happily.

Harry and Neville broke down laughing and Hermione joined in. The people around them just cast suspicious glances and glares to Neville and Hermione, for befriending the famous defeater of Voldemort, as Harry had been aptly named after Dumbledore revealed that Voldemort had disappeared and Harry had vanquished him. He had been named the Boy-Who-Lived, because he hadn't been pronounced missing and assumed dead for a week after Halloween, by which the hyphenated nickname had taken hold and never been released.

"Come on you two, where are we doing homework today? The common room, library or outside?" Hermione asked, clapping her hands a few times.

"Might be a bit cold outside." Harry replied thoughtfully. "I haven't come across a personal heating charm yet, have you? I only know ones for houses."

Both Hermione and Neville shook their heads.

"No, I saw Gran doing the charm for houses once a few years ago though, it was a very bad winter so she was just reinforcing them."

"That's outside struck off then and I don't particularly want to go back to the common room after last night."

"The library then?" Hermione suggested.

"It's going to have to be until we can find someplace just for us." Harry sighed and vowed to start on that as soon as possible.

The three stood up and ambled to the doors, not noticing they were being watched from the Head table by no less than seven people. Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Severus, Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall.

"It seems young Harry has found himself two friends." Albus commented calmly.

"I'm so glad he has found someone his own age to relate to, I had feared when he first arrived that he would be something of a loner." Lily confessed.

"He's too quiet." James almost whined. "All he does is homework and read. He should be playing, running wild and finding secret passages!"

"You have a unique, mature child and all you want is another brainless, boisterous brat?" Severus asked in disbelief, if he were to ever have a child, he would beg for a child exactly like Harry, calm, quiet, clever and mature. Even if the boy did have his share of problems and phobias with time and patience they could be overcome.

"I want him to be normal!" James shot back angrily.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Lily demanded. "I want him to be normal? Harry is normal! He has grown up in solitude and silence! Any child under those conditions would be exactly the same! There is nothing wrong with my baby!"

"I didn't mean it that way Lily, I want him to play games that's all! It isn't natural for children to live with their noses in books."

"I did." Severus cut in with narrowed eyes.

"Yeh? And look how you turned out!" Sirius commented cruelly.

"Sirius!" Remus chided. "If you had forgotten I constantly had a book in my lap as well! Due to my condition I never went near other children whilst growing up, why do you think I shied away from you and James? I never went near another child after the incident and you two were so overwhelming it almost sent me into panic attacks. Just like Harry reacted when he first came here."

Both Sirius and James looked ashamed of themselves, but never apologized, not that anyone expected them to, they were too immature to do so. They wanted to hang onto their childish grudge for as long as possible.

"If you hadn't of noticed Black, Potter, Harry has made friends with the two people in his house that are like him. Quiet, shy, avid readers, but loyal to a tee. Miss Granger is an only child with busy parents. It is obvious she would most relate to Harry, and Longbottom has been held back by his physically impaired Grandmother. You should be glad he has made any friends at all at this stage, he has been here for less than a week."

"And he has made friends with young Mister Malfoy." Dumbledore cut in.

"My son will not be friends with a Malfoy!" James hissed furiously.

"You are not in any position to say who he is friends or enemies with Potter." Severus smirked. "You barely know each other, do you think he will thank you for stopping short any friendships he tries to make after living a life of isolation? You are stupid and foolish if you think the answer is yes. He has given you another chance after you blew your first when you tried killing his familiars only two days after he met you, if I were you I wouldn't blow your second chance as he may not give you a third."

Severus stood up and with a swish of his cloak made his way to his dungeons so he could get on with his weekend marking, leaving James and Sirius with their jaws hanging open, Lily and Remus with satisfied smirks and Dumbledore with a serene smile as the elderly Headmaster plucked another lemon drop from the golden dish by his left hand.

* * *

Harry, Hermione and Neville were at a table in the library, three sheets of parchment in front of them, numerous books on history opened to display information on the 1523 goblin rebellion of Northern Ireland, quills in hand and poised ready to write.

"Has anyone noticed that all we have learned about in the first three lessons of History of Magic are scattered goblin rebellions? Professor Binns started us on the 1403 Rebellion of Wales then in the same lesson stopped and started on the War or Weapons in 1789. I became confused after twenty minutes, my notes became scattered and I spent three hours putting them in chronological order. He isn't a very good teacher." Harry complained idly.

"I noticed as well." Hermione said. "Though I had no idea he was talking about separate Rebellions, I thought they were the same."

"I only knew because when I was eight I found a book of the War of Weapons and read it. He never told us he was talking about something different."

"I can't comment, I fell asleep after ten minutes."

"I felt like falling asleep Nev don't worry. It was horribly boring."

"As long as we have incompetent teachers we'll be sleeping much more often in lessons." A drawling voice came from behind them.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Hermione demanded.

"Calm down Hermione." Harry chided lightly. "How are you Draco?"

"Alright, though I did hear you run into trouble after I left you last night." Draco stated, narrowing his eyes at Hermione as the bushy haired girl, glared at him.

"I did, but it doesn't matter. My Father sorted that out for me."

"Still I feel slightly responsible." Draco insisted. "We were closer to your common rooms after all weren't we? I should have taken you back myself, I am older after all."

Harry sighed exasperatedly. Then snorted lightly in amusement.

"Didn't you say your birthday was the fifth of June?"

Draco nodded his head, not understanding where this was going.

"My birthday is the thirty-first of July. You're only a month older than I am."

"My birthday is the thirtieth of July, so I'm older than Harry by one day." Neville stated with a grin towards the pouting black haired boy.

"My birthday is the nineteenth of September so I'm older than all of you." Hermione cut in superiorly.

"But Harry is still the youngest." Neville stated.

"He's the youngest in our year, followed by Longbottom and then some Hufflepuff named Abbot who's birthday is the third of July."

"No one here was born in August?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"No, the most common months witches and wizards are born in are September through to November. Then after that it's April and May. Christmas babies are rare and so are summer babies, but you will hardly ever see a baby being born in February unless in dire circumstances. I'm not sure why, my Father told me something about Mothers and Fathers with magical blood not coming together near Easter, I had no idea what he was talking about, so I never asked again." Draco said with a confused look on his face as he sat next to Harry, opposite Neville.

Harry scrunched his nose up in thought, he couldn't make any sense of it either, but Hermione's cheeks stained a brilliant red.

"I…I think your Father meant witches and wizards don't _make love _near Easter." She said in a choked, wobbly voice.

Draco almost choked himself and fell into a coughing fit, but Neville looked as confused as Harry felt.

"How do you make love?" Harry asked curiously. "I thought love was just an emotion that people with strong emotional feelings gave each other."

Draco's cheeks went pink and Hermione flushed red again, ducking her head down and stammering incoherently.

"I'm not supposed to know about things like that!" Draco forced out, avoiding eye contact. "I only know because I made the mistake of asking my Uncle Janus. Mother and Father were furious with him."

"My…My Mum and Dad didn't want me going to a boarding school not knowing about certain things, so they gave me 'the talk' before I left. It was so embarrassing!" Hermione wailed burying her bushy head in her hands.

"Merlin! I was given the proper 'talk' after my Father heard how my Uncle botched it up so much. I never want to hear the story of how I was conceived ever again! I was almost sick."

Hermione giggled. "Your Father told you how you were conceived?!"

"No! Do not speak of it! It never happened and is never going to happen again."

"If it never happened in the first place how can it happen again?" Hermione shot back at the blonde with a Cheshire cat grin.

"I don't like you!" Draco burst out, burying his head in his folded arms. "Reminding me of things that haven't happened and need to remain locked up. Too horrible to think about. Scarred for life!" Draco mumbled through his arms.

"I don't understand." Harry almost wailed. He wanted to know what would make, dignified Draco Malfoy act like he was, in a public place no less. For he had found that the blonde boy was a very private person.

"Be thankful you don't." Draco answered. "If you want to know ask your parents, or you could ask Uncle Sev!"

Harry nodded his head and filed the question away for whoever he saw first.

Draco joined their study group and it seemed he had already complained to his Father, who was on the Board of Governors, about the ghost teacher and the older blonde was waiting for a few more complaints to take it to higher authority.

"I'd gladly give him a statement." Harry said. "I value my education very much, I do not want to be taught by such an incompetent teacher."

"I'll send an owl to my Father, he takes my education seriously and has been waiting for more people to complain, the Ministry snubbed his earlier tries because only Slytherin house and a few Ravenclaws were complaining."

"Corrupted government, incompetent teachers and Ministers, prejudice laws and views, just what is wrong with all these people?!" Harry hissed, shaking his head.

No one answered him, but the four of them worked diligently until lunch time, when they traipsed down to the Great Hall, where they ate a light lunch and then immediately headed back to the library to finish their History homework, for all of their plans they could not finish the tedious work by lunch.

"Do you think he actually reads what he marks?" Harry asked suddenly when they were almost finished. "I mean he's a ghost, how can he hold a quill? Then again how can he actually hold our essays or pick one up from the pile and see the ones underneath?"

Harry's three companions looked confused and contemplative.

"You know I never really thought of that, how does he mark our work?" Hermione asked, looking more to Draco and Neville, who were both Purebloods.

"He couldn't." Draco answered. "Ghosts can not touch solid objects, they just pass right through them, liquids leave a stain behind that lasts an hour or so and no one knows how gas affects them, but it is believe it doesn't as they don't breathe."

"Well this just got a little bit stranger. Will your Father know anything?" Hermione asked the blonde, whom she had warmed up to since he had been nothing but polite and helpful since he had joined them.

"He might, I'll ask in that owl I'm sending him." The blonde said, thinking about the layout of said letter. "I should have a reply by Monday and that's if Father replies right away, he is a busy man."

The group then moved from their history homework, to the Transfiguration essay, which they could easily complete being one of their mutual strong points and finally onto the Defence Against the Dark Arts questions, which turned out Draco had already done, so he helped them finish by dinner time.

"Have you done that Sugartooth assignment yet? For Herbology?" The blonde asked on the way down.

"No, we were going to do it tomorrow." Neville answered having been informed of the plans that morning.

"Why not do it after dinner, we have three hours before curfew, we can at least get a head start on it, I'm pretty sure there is a patch down by the gates though."

Harry and Hermione looked to each other and Harry nodded his head.

"That could be a good idea. It leaves tomorrow free for whatever we want to do, good thinking Draco."

The blonde puffed up at the praise and lapped it up like a starving cat, the smug smirk on his face was infectious and soon had Neville, Hermione and Harry laughing.

The four split at the doors, Draco went to the Slytherin table to sit between a near silent Italian boy and a black haired girl and Harry, Hermione and Neville sat at the end of the Gryffindor table, trying their hardest to ignore everyone and in Harry's case, his clenching stomach.

After the first few bites of food, Harry began feeling worse and his hands began shaking, his right one, that was holding his fork, shook so badly he kept dropping the food from the fork.

"Are you alright Harry?" Hermione asked once she saw this.

"Yeh, I don't know what's wrong. This has never happened before."

"Perhaps you need a drink?" She suggested. "Low blood sugar or something."

Harry nodded his head and carefully picked up a goblet, it was shaking so much he was spilling it, but managed to take a few gulps of cool liquid, spilling some of it on his robes in the process. He felt no better from the drink, but wasn't shaking anymore at least.

"See, you had low blood sugar, perhaps you should start eating some chocolate or sweets during the day, you need some sugar."

"Aren't your parents dentists?" Harry asked trying to reroute her from his illness.

"Yes, but I try to sneak a bit of sugar into my diet, some of those sugar free sweets are just horrible." She replied.

Harry and Neville laughed and finished their dinners, Harry ate less than everyone and still felt awful at the end of the meal.

He felt awful when he met Draco's acquaintances, Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson and he felt awful when all six of them travelled out to find the Sugartooth Poppies.

Breathing slowly as they chatted and joked down to the school gates, Harry couldn't help feeling faint, no one noticed or if they didn't, they didn't show it.

"I'm telling you that Quidditch balls are made that way!" Draco almost yelled at Hermione.

"They have to be enchanted!" Hermione insisted. "There is no other explanation."

"They're not!"

"But…"

"They're not Hermione." Harry cut them up. "They are made with magic, not enchanted afterwards."

"Thank you Harry!" Draco threw his hands up and latched himself to Harry's shoulder.

"But how?!" Hermione asked desperately.

"I'm eleven, I don't know how Quidditch balls are made." Harry stated with a shrug.

A snort from Blaise and a cough from Pansy, let Harry know the two were still around and had not disappeared through boredom or disgust at being seen with Gryffindors.

"Who wants to know how they're _made_?! All that matters is learning how to _play_ with them!" Draco told her hotly.

They reached the gates and all six started scouting for the patch of Sugartooths. It was Neville who found them first and called them over.

"Merlin are those teeth?!" Pansy screeched.

"Well they are Sugartooths Pansy." Draco sighed exasperatedly, rolling his eyes.

"How do we get one without being bitten?" Blaise asked, Herbology was not his strong point.

"You can't." Neville explained. "They're not poisonous or anything and they don't have very much of a bite, it would feel more like a pin prick than anything."

"Go on then Longbottom, pick one up!" Pansy challenged crossly, folding her arms and putting her, rather large, nose in the air.

Shrugging, the quiet Gryffindor reached out and gripped the stem of a more mature Sugartooth Poppy. It bit his hand, but Neville didn't even murmur as he yanked the weird, toothy flower from the patch, roots and all, and cupped it in his hands.

"There, simple." He exclaimed to them all.

"Can we just get back now that we have it?" Pansy whined.

"Yeh, I'm feeling sleepy." Harry agreed.

"Didn't have your mid day nap Potter?" Blaise asked with a grin, showing off unnaturally white teeth.

"No I didn't, I knew it would mess up my sleeping patterns if I skipped it." Harry replied with a grin of his own, he rather liked the Italian's sense of humour.

"Well it is eight o'clock now and it will be half eight when we get back to school." Hermione replied looking to a wristwatch.

Harry smiled when he saw it, he had bought his own watch from Diagon Alley as well, they were special watches, created and charmed to work even around the magical environment of Hogwarts.

"Nev can you hang on to the Sugartooth Poppy?" Harry asked the boy who was stroking the soft pink, almost white, petals.

"What should he get to look after it?!" Pansy asked immediately.

"Because he is the only one who can look after it without killing it." Harry replied with a raised eyebrow. "And don't say you would be able to, you couldn't even touch it for fear it would bite you."

Pansy slipped into a sulk at that, but the five others ignored her tantrum in favour of getting back to the school quickly.

Harry was getting worse and he knew he was, he could feel his stomach twisting and threatening to empty itself on the ground, his limbs were becoming heavy and it was taking everything he had to just keep walking. He would have loved nothing more than to curl up and sleep on the grass.

"Are you alright Harry?" Neville asked concernedly as Harry yawned for the seventh time in a minute.

"Yeh, just really tired all of a sudden."

"Maybe your blood sugar has dropped again." Hermione jumped in.

Harry just nodded even though he knew that wasn't what was wrong with him, it was whatever Madam Pomfrey had said, what was it, lead poisoning? Well it was something like that.

Almost crying in relief as the majestic structure of Hogwarts came back into view, Harry forced his legs to keep stride with everyone else's. It was bad enough his legs were shorter than theirs without the added fatigue slowing him down as well.

In the Entrance Hall, the three Slytherins said their goodbyes to the three Gryffindors and headed away into the dungeons. Whilst the Gryffindors made their way to the Fat Lady, all the way to the top floor of Hogwarts, it was like a death sentence to Harry, who could hardly keep his eyes open.

"You really don't look well Harry."

Said boy looked to Hermione with half closed eyes and took a deep breath that burnt his lungs.

"I'll be fine after I've had some sleep, I must have eaten something my stomach didn't agree with."

"Do you want to see Madam Pomfrey?"

Harry shivered as he thought of that bleached white, sterilized room. No he did not want to go back there for anything short of dying.

"I'll be fine after some rest, you'll see." He replied and said goodnight to Hermione and Neville in the common room.

He trudged up the stairs and stripped his robe and shoes off, he threw the robe into the hamper that the house elves emptied everyday and quickly divested himself of his button down shirt, dress trousers and socks and threw them to join his robe.

Sluggishly pulling on a pair of blue pyjamas he retrieved from his trunk, he crawled into bed and snuggled under the covers, rubbing his legs over the mattress to get warm and cosy. His snake familiars; Forest and Ice, were already at the end of his bed and hissed goodnight to him and Harry could hardly reply as he curled up and fell asleep the moment his eyes closed.

* * *

Chapter Fourteen for you all, thanks to everyone who reviewed and to everyone who is reading, I very much appreciate it and I sincerely apologise for the terribly late update, but I have eighty-four WIPs at the moment and it is really hard to update just one of them regularly.

The Life and Trials of Harry James Potter-Malfoy is taking a front seat priority along with this fic, of course. But I am constantly adding to my other eighty or so, just do as you have been and remind me to update because I do forget I haven't updated.

Thanks for reading and if you have done so or are going to do so, reviewing.

StarLight Massacre. X


	16. The Confession

A/N: Thanks to:-

CatWriter

Maiden of Books

pstibbons

Colour-chan

Rainbow2007

animaluvr123

DSMelody

Chite

Preetoaka Raven Potter Weasley

anaknisatanas

Flame me all you want people; this fic isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Chapter Fifteen - The Confession. 

Harry woke up suddenly and for a moment wondered why, until he felt something on his arm. Turning his head he almost screamed as he came face to face with Hedwig, who happened to have a very torn up mouse in her beak.

"Lord Hedwig! Did you have to bring me a present this morning?" He complained feeling his stomach rolling in acute disgust.

Hedwig cooed at him through a beak full of mouse and Harry closed his eyes.

"You are a clever owl though, catching that all by yourself." Harry praised stroking Hedwig's puffed up breast.

He felt better this morning and pushed yesterday off as a fluke. Stretching his back, he gingerly took the mouse from Hedwig and placed it on his bedside table. He hoped to Merlin the house elves took it when they cleaned the tower dormitories, or failing that Forest would clean it up. Hopefully.

Getting up and petting Hedwig one final time Harry looked around him. His dorm mates were still asleep, not surprising as he looked out of the window and the pinky gold tinge to the sky told him it was just after daybreak.

Sighing Harry got a change of clothes and went for a shower, he didn't know why they had worn their robes yesterday when it had been Saturday, they didn't exactly have classes to go to and it was only required to wear school uniform on school days. The weekend wasn't counted.

After his shower Harry felt absolutely fine. He had no homework left, nothing he needed to do today and he was feeling better than he had in a long while. He checked in on Forest and Ice, both of which were sound asleep at the end of his bed. Deciding against waking them up, Harry picked up his law book and made his way down to the kitchens for breakfast.

He arrived quickly not seeing any teachers or ghosts or any living, or undead, thing, though he supposed they were all still asleep. He tickled the pear and smiled as it giggled at him, before turning into a doorknob. He greeted the house elves joyfully and smiled as they practically radiated happiness and beamed at him, coaxing him into a chair and feeding him fit to burst with an assortment of breakfast foods.

Once his slowly stretching stomach was full, Harry flopped back against the chair and groaned, feeling like he would never move again. He was just so full! Staying in his boneless position, Harry closed his eyes and thanked the house elves profusely, though he told them they would have to roll him out of the kitchens because he currently couldn't move.

He stayed as he was for a few minutes before he sat himself back up and cracked open his law book and started reading. He was disgusted by some of the laws and limitations placed upon the wizarding world's inhabitants, especially vampires, werewolves and centaurs. He didn't understand how people could be so prejudice and discriminating of anyone who wasn't the same kind as they were. It was wrong! They had feelings and emotions as well as the rest of them, why should they be made to live in squalor and poverty just because they had been bitten by a werewolf, or turned into a vampire? Most of them had been turned unwillingly in the first place! It just wasn't fair. If he ever got in a position to so something about it, Harry swore he damn well would. He would abolish half of the outdated and archaic laws and regulations he was reading, most of them didn't even fit into regular society anymore and had been outdated for over a century.

A warm bowl of vegetable soup was placed in front of him at lunchtime along with a plate of fresh crusty bread and Harry thanked the house elves for taking care of him. The soup was delicious and Harry even managed half way through a second bowl. He stood up and stretched, he needed to do something about his lapsing physical training and there was no time like the present.

He slipped down his special tunnel that the house elves had pointed out to him, coming out of the tree near the green houses and set off towards the lake. It seemed big enough that he could run decent laps around it. He would try three and see if he was gasping for air and his muscles were aching and burning at the end, if they weren't he'd run an extra lap. If it was too much, he'd try two laps and work his way from there.

* * *

Gasping and panting for air as he finished his third lap, Harry collapsed onto the patch of grass that marked his third lap around. Taking in a few, very deep, lungful's of air, Harry sat up and began stretching out his muscles so the lactic acid wouldn't build up and cause his muscles to cramp up on him.

It was perhaps four in the afternoon now and Harry was feeling a bit contemplative. His mind kept slipping back to the Boggart. That woman. Seeing her again had released all of Harry's old nightmares and memories. He tried to keep them locked up, but he couldn't, he was still terrified of her and what she had done.

She had never physically hit him, but what she had done was much, much worse. Harry believed he would have rathered a slap now and then to what she had done to him. All of the pain she had inflicted upon him, the things she had exposed him to, the things she had said. He had sworn he would take the details of his ordeal with him to the grave, but that was before now, when he was younger, when he had had no one but himself, when he believed his parents were dead. Could he go back on his word now he knew his parents were actually alive and well? Would they believe him? What if they didn't and called him a liar? Would they still love him afterwards?

Harry sighed and thought about it rationally. They had no proof he was a liar and Harry could prove it, he was after all telling the truth. He couldn't be claimed a liar if it was the truth. They might not believe him, but all he had to do was offer them his memories in a Pensieve, they would be able to see then that he was telling the truth. If they didn't love him afterwards, well…Harry would be glad that he hadn't gotten to know them in depth yet, it would make the pain easier to bear when the time came for him to separate from them, but that was only if they didn't love him anymore and they had no reason not to.

Making up his mind, Harry set off back to the castle, he wanted an early dinner and he needed to pick up his law book from the kitchens anyway, then he would go and see his parents. He needed to talk to them, but he didn't know how. It was always going to be hard to talk about his very early childhood, he could hardly bare to think about it as it was, but to actually talk about it willingly? Perhaps it would be easier if he had them around him, his Father had already saved him from the Boggart, perhaps he could save him from the actual thing, but could he save Harry from his own memories? There was only one way to find out.

* * *

No one was in the Marauders quarters when Harry got there, but Forest was, he was curled up in front of the fire, his dark green scales reflecting the flickering light of the flames like a mesmerising mirror. Harry's eyes were drawn to the flickering light, hypnotised by it, and it was only Forest speaking that broke Harry, rather reluctantly, from his gawking.

"_I knew you would come here." _Forest hissed lazily.

"_Where is Ice?"_ Harry asked shaking his head slightly to rid it of his drowsy feeling before looking around carefully in case he had missed her somewhere in the rather large room.

"_She was having it out with that blasted bird when I left the nest."_

"_They are not harming each other are they?"_ Harry asked concernedly.

"_No, she was hissing up a storm and that blasted bird would not stop squawking. I left to save myself the trouble of trying to sleep with that level of noise."_

Harry chuckled and sat on the settee, curling up with his law book. Forest slithered up and draped himself over Harry, they both shifted until they were comfortable and warm, before settling down, Forest to sleep and Harry to read more of the hideously, grossly, prejudice and iniquitous laws that actually made up the justice system and power structure of the world he now lived in.

It was an hour or so later when the portrait door was opened to admit an arguing pair of men and two disgruntled observers.

"…how can I possibly know where he is!" His Father was almost growling at Sirius.

"Don't you have some sort of radar that tells you where he is and any given moment in time?"

"Of course I don't you stupid twit, I'm human not…" His Father was cut off by his Mother who finally took note of her surroundings.

"Harry!" She exclaimed in great relief. "Oh baby we have been looking for you."

She rushed to him then and wrapped him in a hug, Harry fought to keep himself in check, to stop himself from flinching, he partly managed it, he didn't flinch, but he felt a tremor running through his body at the sudden contact.

"How long have you been here?" His Father asked.

"About an hour." Harry replied neutrally. Had he done something wrong? He had been told he could come here whenever he wanted, had that been a lie.

"Where were you before that?"

"The kitchens."

"You found the kitchens and it's only October? Hell, the little rat is beating our record already!" Sirius whined.

"Sirius!" Lily scolded as she felt Harry tense. "Ignore him Harry, he's being mean."

"So did you need to talk about anything?" James asked, sitting down on the other side of Harry, cringing away from Forest who raised his head and hissed lowly at being disturbed.

"Yes. Draco and Hermione were talking in the library and I didn't understand very well."

"Well what was it honey, I'm sure if none of us know it we can find out together." Lily told him with a beautiful smile.

"We were seeing which one of us was older and who was the youngest and Hermione was speaking about something her parents said to her before she came to Hogwarts and Draco said his Father had given it to him as well and answered his questions."

"And what's that Harry?" Lily asked, giving a glare to James and Sirius as they pulled faces at Draco's name and the mention of Malfoy Senior.

"They had something called the 'talk' but they wouldn't explain any further. Draco said his Father called it 'making love' how do you make love? Love is an emotion it can't be made or given can it?"

Sirius coughed deeply and quickly made his excuses and wandered off to his room. Remus smiled at James, before picking up a book he had left on the coffee table and went into his own room, leaving Harry with his thoughtful Mother and his bright red Father.

"Harry, do you know where babies come from?"

"I know general anatomy. I know the baby grows in the Mother's womb and is then either birthed out or cut out, but the book didn't explain how the baby got there in the first place."

"Can we tell him the stork version please?" James begged his Wife who shot him a stern look.

"Do you honestly believe Harry will accept that pathetic attempt of explaining the birds and the bees? He's eleven, not five."

"What does this conversation have to do with birds and bees? I thought we were talking about babies." Harry asked, looking questioningly up at his Mother and Father.

"The birds and the bees is another way of saying 'The Talk' Harry. It actually has nothing to do with birds or bees."

"Oh. Then why is it called the birds and the bees if it has nothing to do with them?"

"It doesn't matter Harry." Lily told him gently. "Now I think you are a bit too young for this talk, but as you are curious, it's better to get it out of the way, though when you are a bit older, fifteen or sixteen, your Father and I will go into more depth."

Harry nodded slowly, he didn't understand why this talk needed two parts or why one needed to be given when he was older, but he trusted his parents enough to at least get this right.

"Now, when a man and a woman…" James started only to be cut up by his Wife.

"Or a man and another man."

"Er, yeah, okay. When a man and his _partner_ love each other very much, they decide that they want to take their relationship to the next level, you know about relationships don't you Harry?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now the next level of a relationship is physical intimacy."

Harry screwed his face up. "Like hugs?" He asked, not understanding.

"No, more like…like kissing deeply and touching without clothes."

"James! That part of the talk is for when he's older! This part is just explaining the whys and hows."

"Fine, you do this part, I'll do the one when he's older." James replied petulantly.

"I'll hold you too that." Lily hissed at him, before turning back to Harry. "When a couple want a baby Harry they will 'make love' with each other, making love is another way of saying sex."

"I thought that part was for when he's older?" James asked.

"He need's to understand!" Lily snapped. "Do you know the male anatomy Harry?"

"Yes."

"The male sex organs?" James asked.

"Yes." Harry replied, he had read that in the anatomy book, but how did that work.

"When a male has sex or 'makes love' with his partner, he…"

"James! That part is for when he's older! He wont understand."

Harry felt like he was caught in the middle of a brewing argument, so he ducked out whilst he could.

"I get that 'making love' is sex and that the sex talk will come when I'm older, but how do babies get inside a woman?"

"Her partner put's it there Harry."

"Right and that coincides with the sex talk and is for later?" He asked, just to be sure.

"Yes."

"Okay. I understand better now."

His parents let out sighs of relief and Harry shook his head, he wondered if the Hogwarts library had books explaining sex or if he was going to have to buy them in Diagon Alley next summer, he couldn't wait until he was sixteen for this information, he wanted to understand as soon as he possibly could, his interest was piqued and it wouldn't simmer down until he had at least quenched a little of his thirst for knowledge on this certain topic.

"Right, now that's out of the way, was there anything else Harry?" James asked, his grin coming back.

"Yes. I wanted to talk about the Boggart. You did something to get rid of it, what was it? Can you teach me how to do it?"

Lily sat up straighter. James had filled them, meaning her, Remus and Sirius, in about the Boggart and why Harry had been in bed with them when she had woken up. She had wanted to sit down with Harry and ask him about it, but James had made her wait until Harry approached the subject himself. She had been on tender hooks for days, willing Harry to come to them and explain who the woman James had seen was.

"It is a very simple spell Harry, but one that thirteen year olds learn in their third year here. You need to gain control with a wand and over your magic first, or it can go very wrong."

Harry nodded his head and took a deep breath.

"I know you are curious about who she was." He said softly, he could feel their anxiousness when he brought up the Boggart.

"Who was she Harry?" James coaxed gently.

"She was my caretaker. She looked after me when I was very young. She said she found me in the woods when I was just a baby and that she took me in to give me shelter from the wild animals and elements."

"Was she a witch?"

"No. She was just a Muggle that lived in the woods about five miles outside of Godric's Hollow."

"You…you were that close to us." Lily breathed, thinking back to that night.

"Yes, from what I understand I used accidental magic to get myself out of danger and ended up in the woods where _she_ found me."

"Who was she Harry, do you remember her name?"

"She never gave me her first or last name. I was always instructed to call her Madam Ambriel, though I knew that wasn't her real name."

"When did she start hurting you Harry?" James asked even softer, thinking back to the terror he had seen in his son's eyes as the woman in white advanced on him.

"Ev…everything was fine for a while, she did look after me, or at least, I don't remember if she hurt me back then, but when I was perhaps two and a half, she changed dramatically, she started making me do things."

Harry shuddered as the image of her holding out a pipe to his two-year-old self. He had trustingly taken that pipe and held it in his mouth as he had been instructed to, not knowing that it was poisoning him slowly.

"She took me in her car when I was three, nearly four. She drove us into the slums of a city twenty miles away and left me there."

"How…how long were you on the streets Harry?"

"I don't know. More than a week, less than a month. A gang of teenage boys found me. They were all between the ages of seventeen to twenty. They all had large knives and I just ran. When I was running I wished myself away from them, far away. I just wanted to be safe, to go somewhere safe. I vanished and reappeared in Godric's Hollow. The one place, the only place, I had ever really been safe and that's where I stayed."

"If…if we had only gone back for our things." Lily moaned as if in physical pain.

"Shh Lily. We both made the mutual decision not to go back." James soothed, though he was having his own misgivings.

"Why didn't you ever come back?" Harry asked.

"We couldn't face going back to where we had been so happy." James told him, pulling him in tighter and 'accidentally' dislodging Forest onto the floor. "We didn't want to see all of your old baby things, the photos, the demolished house where our friends, and supposedly you, had been killed. We were being cowards."

"No. Not cowards. Just unhappy and unwilling to face the horrible past." Harry whispered. He had wondered for so long on why they had never come back to the house.

Harry felt better for having told his Mother and Father about Madam Ambriel, he felt calmer and safer, though he knew Madam Ambriel couldn't hurt him any longer, she didn't even know he was still alive, let alone where he was, but that did not stop his memories from trying to confuse him. His parents had taken this part of him better than he could have hoped, it made him think that perhaps he could tell them the whole of what he had been through in his life, and not just a little part of it.

Cuddled now between his parents for the first time, Harry wondered if this is what actual love felt like. It was like a fluttering, clenching muscle had been attached to his heart and stomach. Thinking about harm to his parents caused the new muscle in his stomach to clench painfully, thinking of being held like this forever and always made the muscle on his heart flutter happily. If this was love, Harry never wanted to give it up. Not now, not ever.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I am well aware that I haven't updated this fic in over a year. Just know that no matter how long it takes me to update, I will not abandon it. I have been more focused on The Life and Trials, but I found a spare couple of hours to write this chapter.

_**No**_ this story will not be slash, will not be het, will not be anything as I believe that eleven year olds can not have relationships and I have said already that I am only doing this fic up to the end of Harry's first year. There will be a sequel of Harry's second year and then third and so on up to the seventh and final one.

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I would like to thank everyone who has ever read and/or reviewed this fic for your support.

StarLight Massacre.


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